


One Shot Compilation

by bookworm2017



Category: Cartoon Therapy, Sanders Sides
Genre: Anxiety, Arguing, Drinking, Kissing, M/M, blood mention, one shots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 14:30:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 28,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18896512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookworm2017/pseuds/bookworm2017
Summary: This is a collection of one shots and prompts that I posted to my tumblr. Most of them are just too short to post alone, so I thought to put them all under one collection. There's a glossary as well as summaries for each story both in the glossary and at the beginning of the chapter. Includes both platonic and romantic parings, as well as a one shot with Emile Picani and Remy (Sleep) Sanders. I'll add to it as I write more.





	1. Glossary

**Author's Note:**

> Also, all of these were also posted to my tumblr @sanders-specs

Chapter 1: Glossary 

Chapter 2: Rainy Day (Moxiety)  
Prompt: Gimmie some good old Moxiety where they're just having a fluffy day curled up watching movies

Chapter 3: Poet's Corner (Analogical)  
Prompt: Logan loves poetry, but isn't very good at it himself because he has trouble expressing himself. Virgil is rather good at it, but finds it embarrassing. That is until Logan stumbles upon one of his poems by accident and rambles on and on about how well written and poignant it is

Chapter 4: A Daring Escape (Moralogince)  
Prompt: Patton, Logan, and Roman on a quest in Romans’ room, Roman gets hurt bc he wants to impress his boyfriends, and they nurse him back to health and tell him that he doesn’t need to impress them

Chapter 5: A Night of Anxiety  
Virgil’s having a bad night and can’t get himself to go get anyone (tw for anxiety)

Chapter 6: Neighbors (Analogical)  
Logan and Virgil are neighbors and they spend nearly every evening listening to music on their respective porches, until one evening Logan finally invites Virgil over

Chapter 7: Childhood Friends (Remile)  
Emile Picani isn’t quite sure what to do about his crush on his childhood friend Remy, but a movie night mixed with a little wine just might bring the truth out of both of them.

Chapter 8: One Bad Day (Prinxiety)  
Virgil’s had a bad day that only seems to be getting worse. All he wants is the comfort of Roman’s arms to help him through the rest of the day

Chapter 9: Just Let Me Sleep (Prinxiety)  
This is a Human/College AU where Virgil is left alone with musical theatre major roommate Roman who keeps practicing his songs very loudly into the early morning hours and all Virgil wants is to go to sleep.

Chapter 10: You'll Be in My Heart (Moxiety)  
Tiny!Virgil can’t sleep so Patton decides to sing him a lullaby to ease his worries

Chapter 11: Alone  
Sometimes, you just feel alone in a room full of people

Chapter 12: Creatures of the Night (LAMP)  
The Sides decide to have a bond fire on Halloween night in Roman’s realm. Little do they know something lurks in the dark (you are in no way required to take this seriously at all, i was just having fun with it)

Chapter 13: Dance With Me (Logicality)  
Patton is up late, not being able to sleep, so he decides to do some baking. Logan, having woken up to his bed empty, decides to investigate. he finds Patton in the kitchen dancing to music while baking, and Patton prompts him to join him.

Chapter 14: Are You Flirting With Me? (Analogical)  
Logan’s been a regular customer at Virgil’s restaurant where he works. Every time he comes in, he insists on having Virgil as a server, and though his friends insist that Logan’s got a crush on him, Virgil just can’t see it. At least until he realizes that Logan is attempting to ask him out.

Chapter 15: I Don't Deserved to be Loved (Royality)  
Roman is a perfectionist. He has to come up with all of the best ideas, he has to earn the love of the Fanders, he has to make up for his mistakes. He doesn’t deserve any of love people give him until he does.

Chapter 16: Starlight Date (Logince)  
College AU where Logan has been overworking himself so Roman decides that they should go on a middle of the night date to get him to relax

Chapter 17: Candy and Wine (Analogical)  
It’s Logan and Virgil’s first Valentine’s Day together and Roman has made sure that they have a romantic night (Neither can be romantic to save their lives). Only it doesn’t go exactly as planned. Note: Don’t let Roman plan your Valentine’s Day date.

Chapter 18: My Monster (Prinxiety)  
Prompt: Can you do a fanfic of child Virgil drawing his monster which is Deceit and one of the Sanders sides(Roman preferably) talks to Virgil about his monster.

Chapter 19: Pool Night (LAMP)  
Virgil, Roman, Logan, and Patton don’t know each other. They all just happen to be staying at the same hotel, none of them too happy with their situation. They all end up at the pool together and though tensions are high at first, it turns out that being able to open up to three complete strangers is just what they need, complete with a splash fight.

Chapter 20: Jingle Bells (LAMP)  
Prompt: Patton being super excited and forcing Virgil into a reindeer headband thing. Virgil is secretly having a really good time. Roman singing at the top of his lungs while Logan tried to figure out how to put the lights on the tree.

Chapter 21: The Star Present (Logicality)  
Prompt: Patton gifts Logan a new set of ties designed with stars.

Chapter 22: Christmas Sweaters (LAMP)  
Patton makes everyone Christmas sweaters, but he adds a little twist to make them special

Chapter 23: Christmas Wonderland (LAMP)  
Prompt: Patton and Roman go a little (way) too overboard with the decorations

Chapter 24: Scraps (Analogical)   
Logan can’t help, but notice that Virgil only has one hoodie which is old and tattered. He takes it upon himself to sew a new one for Virgil to give to him as a gift


	2. Rainy Day (Moxiety)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Gimmie some good old Moxiety where they're just having a fluffy day curled up watching movies

Patton’s favorite days were when the skies were grey and the forecast had rain for the whole day. Not because he particularly liked the rain or the gloom, but because it meant that there was a calm, sleepy atmosphere in the house that was contagious. Even loud and excited Roman was calm and curled up in his bed when Patton went to check on him. 

Virgil, on the other hand, was sitting in a chair by his window, watching the rain. He was stilled dressed in his pajamas, though, and he looked as content as Patton had ever seen him. 

“Hey kiddo,” Patton said, keeping his voice low so as not to startle him, “whatcha doing?” 

Virgil looked over at Patton and gave him a small smile before turning back to the window. “Just watching the storm. Is everyone okay? I haven’t heard an argument since last night.”

“Roman and Logan both seem to be keeping to themselves today,” Patton said, sitting on Virgil’s bed and leaning back against his mountain of pillows. 

“Good, I don’t think I could stand hearing another argument about which marker we should use on the white board calendar until at least tomorrow.” 

Patton chuckled and leaned back, closing his eyes. He himself was feeling particularly lazy and tired. He’d barely managed to clean the kitchen from breakfast that morning before he’d decided everything else could wait for when he had more energy. 

After a few silent moments, Patton felt the bed dip next to him, and then warm arms wrap around him. “You’re feeling lazy today too huh?” Virgil asked. 

“The rain does that,” Patton said, resting his head on Virgil’s shoulder and cuddling close to him. 

He felt more than heard Virgil chuckle. “Comfy?” 

“Mmmhmm.”

“Wanna watch a movie?” 

“Yeah…” 

“Winnie the Pooh?” 

Patton nods. 

Virgil turns the movie on and settled back, Patton curling up almost on top of him as the familiar happy music started. There was a loud clap of thunder that startled Virgil so much he balled up a fistful of fabric from Patton’s shirt. 

Patton looked up at him. “You okay?” 

“Yeah…yeah,” Virgil said, taking a moment to breathe. “Just…startled is all.” 

Patton shifts so that he could wrap his arms around Virgil’s waist, allowing him to cuddle closer. Virgil relaxed and the two of them spent the rest of the day cuddled together watching movies, content as could be.


	3. Poet's Corner (Analogical)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Logan loves poetry, but isn't very good at it himself because he has trouble expressing himself. Virgil is rather good at it, but finds it embarrassing. That is until Logan stumbles upon one of his poems by accident and rambles on and on about how well written and poignant it is

Logan sighed as he read through his book of poems. They weren’t his poems, just a book of a collection of poems other people had written. The one he’d just finished was called “I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth and he just…couldn’t believe that this poet could write about something as simple as the joys of solitude and Logan could barely tell what he wanted for dinner. 

Throwing the book on the coffee table, Logan got up to fix some soothing tea to hopeful help calm his frustrations. He loved poetry dearly, so it upset him to some degree that he never seemed to be able to write anything he was every happy with. 

He was envious of Roman, who could spout words easily, flawlessly. It was like his brain just formed rhymes and rhythms immediately. The other boy didn’t even need to think about it. 

As Logan set about making his tea, a piece of paper sitting on the counter caught his eye. Figuring it was a grocery list Patton had left, he picked it up to go over it. Only it wasn’t a grocery list. It was a poem, one Logan had never seen before. 

It was…beautiful. Logan had read plenty of poems at this point in his life, had studied and memorized many of them. This one though…this one was one that took his breathe away. 

“What are you doing?!” A panicked voice screeched. 

Logan jumped, startled, and looked up to see Virgil frozen the doorway. He was staring at the paper in Logan’s hand with horror in his eyes. 

“Oh Virgil, is this yours? I was just admiring–” 

Virgil stormed forward and snatched the paper out of his hand. “Don’t go reading things that don’t belong to you!” he snaped, holding the paper like it was a lifeline. 

Logan frowned. “Then perhaps you should not leave poems lying around where anyone can read them. Besides, why wouldn’t you want someone to read that? It is fantastic.” 

Virgil froze that that, the look of anger morphing into one of guarded suspision. 

“You…liked it?” 

“Virgil it is one of the best poems I have ever read.” 

The other boy rolled his eyes. “Shut up, you’re always reading those poem books. You know better than i do that there are thousands of poems better than this thing.” 

Logan shook his head. “I would not exaggerate Virgil. It is well worded, well paced. It is like a song.” 

Virgil’s cheeks reddened and he shrunk away. “I…um…” he looked away, clearly embrassed. 

Logan bit his lip, cursing himself. “I apologize for pushing too much…and for reading your poem without permission.” 

Shifting on his feet, Virgil glanced up at him. “You really liked it?” 

“Of course. I appreciate good poetry.” 

This made Virgil’s face redden more. “Well…um…I have more…notebooks full of them actually…oh god I can’t believe i’m even considering this…” 

Logan took a step forward. “I would be honored to read them, if you will share them with me.” 

Virgil was bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Okay just don’t be too harsh okay? Oh i just said okay twice umm…” 

Logan put a gentle hand on Virgil’s arm. “I enjoyed your first, so it would only be logical that i would enjoy others.” 

“Right, right it’s just…you read so many poems so you’re probably way better at it than I am….” 

Logan blinked in surprise. “oh no. I cannot write poetry, it’s far too hard for me to convey my feelings in a way that is not…robotic.” 

“What?” a surprised laugh came out of Virgil. “You seem to be doing pretty okay right now.” 

Logan blushed at that. “Well…i suppose with you it might be slightly easier.” 

Virgil smirked at that. he reached out and took Logan’s hand. “Alright, then, come on before i lose my nerve. Just be kind in your feedback.” 

Logan smiled and followed him. He spent the rest of the afternoon reading through anything Virgil would hand him, blown away by how talented the usual quiet and reserved boy was. 

Later, when Patton came to get them for dinner, he found the two of them asleep, hands barely touching, and surrounded by notebooks and paper.


	4. A Daring Escape (Moralogince)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Patton, Logan, and Roman on a quest in Romans’ room, Roman gets hurt bc he wants to impress his boyfriends, and they nurse him back to health and tell him that he doesn’t need to impress them

“Alright, now you have to be very quiet,” Roman whispered, keeping an arm out to keep his boyfriends out of sight of the dragon witch. 

“Yeah, you’ve told us that a thousand times,” Logan whispered back, clearly annoyed. 

“Shhhh,” roman said, pulling out his sword. he peaked around the mouth of the cave to see the dragon witch guarding her hoard and magical items. In the very back of the cave, Roman could see what they were looking for. Roman’s sash, Logan’s favorite tie, Patton’s cat hoodie, and Virgil jacket. 

Roman motions for Patton and Logan to follow him around the cave, out of ear shot from the dragon. “Alright here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to lure her out while you two grab our things.” 

Patton and Logan exchange a look. “Roman, that seems a little dan-” 

Roman was already up and running towards the mouth of the cave, though, shouting for the dragon to come and fight him herself. There was a loud roar and the dragon came barreling out of the cave. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Patton and Logan run inside. Roman stabbed at the dragon with his sword, which seemed to only make her angry. 

“Be gone foul beast! You’ve terrorized these lands for too long!” 

The dragon reared back and lifted her head, letting out a breath of flames, setting nearly the entire forest around them on fire. Roman gulped, hoping that Patton and Logan were able to get out in time. 

“You think that will best me?” Roman taunted, moving back as the dragon came after him. He slashed at her with his sword, managing to hit her eye. She roared and slashed at him with her talons, the three sharp nails hitting their mark on his chest. 

“ROMAN!” 

He felt warmth spread across his chest, but he refused to give up. He refused to look weak in front of the two men he loved the most. 

“Ha! You only scratched me. Show me what you got!” Roman called, despite starting to feel woozy from his wound. 

“Roman, get out of there!” Patton called, sounding panicked.

“Get back to the mind palace!” Roman shouted back. 

“Don’t be an idiot,” Logan yelled. “Get over here!” 

Cursing under his breath, Roman started to move towards the sound of his boyfriends’ voices. He didn’t make it, though, as he tripped over his own feet, the blood loss starting to get the better of him. 

“Roman, come on, get up,” Patton begged. Roman tried to get up, but he was too weak. 

The last thing he remembered before passing out was the faces of his two worried boyfriends running towards him as the forest burned around them. 

 

“Do you think he’ll wake up?” 

“Of course, he has to.” 

“But Logan…” 

“No, Patton, he has to. We got to him in time, I’m sure that we did.” 

Everything in Roman’s body hurt. His head, his chest, his legs. It hurt to breathe. The sound of Patton and Logan’s voice, though, dragged his mind into conciseness, and he groaned, coughing at his dry throat. 

“Roman?” Patton asked, hope in his voice. 

“Pat…” Roman muttered. 

“Oh thank goodness you’re okay.” Patton said, taking his hand and kissing it. 

Roman looked over at them and offered a small smile. “I sure showed that dragon, huh?” 

Logan rolled his eyes. “Don’t ever scare us like that again you moron.” 

Roman coughed again, trying to sit up. Patton pushed him down again and got him a glass of water. “Didn’t want to look weak in front of you two.” 

“Don’t be silly,” Patton said, helping him sip from the glass. “You’re our amazing, brave prince, nothing will ever change that.” 

“Just maybe don’t go up against a two ton beast without any back up,” Logan said, rolling his eyes again. He held onto Roman’s hand tightly, though, and Roman could see the relief in his eyes. 

“Sorry,” Roman muttered. 

“Don’t apologize,” Logan said. “Promise us that you’ll never do something that stupid again.” 

“We never want to lose you,” Patton said. “Never ever ever ever.” 

Roman managed a small smile. “Okay. I promise.” 

Both of them relaxed a little, and Patton held up the glass for Roman again. “Alright, get some rest. Those were some nasty cuts on your chest, Ro, you’re lucky Logan got to them in time.” 

Roman smiled. “My hero,” he muttered. 

Logan flushed slightly at that. “Just get some sleep.” 

Roman took his hand and kissed it before doing the same with Patton’s. “I love you two,” he mutters, already starting to fade away again. 

“We love you more,” Patton said, leaning over to kiss his head. 

Roman smiled as he fell back asleep.


	5. A Night of Anxiety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil’s having a bad night and can’t get himself to go get anyone (tw for anxiety)

Virgil lie in complete darkness, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill out of his eyes. Why did this always happen? Every. Single. Night.

Useless

Pathetic

Forgettable.

They’ll never care

They never have cared

They’ll leave you one day.

Virgil squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. No. no. His friends loved him. They would never leave him. They promised they’d always be there.

Lies

Lies

Lies

Virgil rolled over in bed, burring his head in his pillow. He wanted nothing more than to call one of the others. Patton, Logan, even Roman would be welcome. But they were all asleep, and he couldn’t disturb them. they wouldn’t answer anyway.

Why would they want to put up with my shit anyway?

Virgil pressed his face deeper into the pillow. They were just asleep. That’s all. There wasn’t any other reason not to call them. they were just sleeping, and it would be rude for Virgil to call them in the middle of the night.

They wouldn’t answer because they don’t care. They don’t want to deal with me. They don’t’ want to put up with my never ending anxiety.

It was Patton he really wanted to talk to. Patton could always calm him down, talk him through things. Logan was nice company, and Roman never knew how to help Virgil. But Patton always seemed to know the right thing to say. But Patton was sleeping. They all were.

Would he really want to deal with me anyway? He’s got so many more important things to do, other people he probably prefers talking to.

Virgil flipped over onto his back and stared into the darkness of his room. He just wanted to sleep. He wanted the sweet bliss of sleep and hope that maybe tomorrow the thoughts will be gone. Maybe tomorrow will be better. He’ll talk to all his friends, and everything will be okay. He won’t even know why he was worried in the first place.

Or more likely they’ll ignore everything I want to talk about. They’ll be talking to other people, more important people than me. They won’t care about me, they’ll just think that they can ignore me and I’ll be okay with it. And why wouldn’t they think that? I’ve never given them any reason not to think that.

Virgil shut his eyes again. Sleep. Sleep. He just needed to sleep and in the morning. everything will be okay. He just needed to sleep so that the thoughts will shut up. So that tomorrow things will be better. They have to be better right?

I’ve said that every night, and every night it just seems to get worse.

But it can get better. It has to get better. 

Somewhere in Virgil’s mind, he knew that his mind was wrong. He knew that there was no reason to worry. Still, though, he couldn’t help it. He knew that tomorrow would be better, when he woke up. When the world was alive. It was just when the sun set and he was left alone with his thoughts again that the cycle would start over. Maybe one day he’d learn how to take control of it, but that night was not tonight.

So he did his best to keep the anxiety under control. He did the breathing exercises that Logan taught him, he forced himself to calm down. Not long after, he drifted off to a deep, blissful sleep.


	6. Neighbors (Analogical)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan and Virgil are neighbors and they spend nearly every evening listening to music on their respective porches, until one evening Logan finally invites Virgil over
> 
> (Person A often enjoys sitting out on their back porch each evening, listening to their music through a speaker. It's not loud enough to bother anyone, but loud enough that Person B, an adjacent neighbor, hears it in passing when they step outside for something. They politely wave, but don't exchange any dialog. Each evening, they make a habit of sitting on their respective back porches, listening to Person A's music. One evening, however, Person A invites Person B over.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suppose this is more of a headcannon type thing, but i really loved how i wrote it and how it turned out so I'm going to post it here

Person A is Logan and Person B is Virgil. Virgil likes to sit outside to listen to Logan’s music because it’s so calming and relaxing and so different from what he usually listens to. Logan doesn’t know it but the evenings Virgil spends listening to his music is often the best part of his day and helps when his anxiety spikes. It’s also comforting for both of them to listen to the music alone but not alone. there’s this shared, understood thing between them so they never speak or acknowledge each other except for a nice wave. Sometimes, Logan will even wait until Virgil is home before he sets out his speaker and turns the music on. When Logan goes back inside, Virgil will too, and they’ll wave at each other again before returning to their homes for the night. 

One day, though, Logan notices Virgil pacing outside on his back porch for a long time before Logan usually set out the music. He seemed distressed about something, though what it was Logan couldn’t guess. He got the feeling that simply listening to music wouldn’t soothe Virgil that well tonight, so he walked over to Virgil’s back yard and called out to him, which startled Virgil so much he back into the screen door that covered the door back into the house. Logan simply smiled and asked Virgil if he would like to join Logan for the evening. Logan could make a simple meal and they could have their usual music session and, perhaps, enjoy the other’s company. 

Though nervous, Virgil agrees because, if he was being honest, he didn’t want to be alone that night. So, he walked with Logan back to Logan’s house, where the other man made dinner while Virgil watched. They exchanged pleasant conversation, Logan holding most of it as he told Virgil about his day. Watching and listening to Logan helped Virgil to relax. 

After eating, they spend the rest of the evening out on Logan’s back porch, listening to music and drinking wine. After a while, Virgil starts a small conversation that ends up last for hours. Eventually, though, Virgil has to go back home. Logan waits until he sees the other on his porch and turns to wave at Logan before going inside. 

From then on, the two set aside at least one night a week to get together, have dinner, talk about their week, and end the evening with some wine and music. Neither really admit it, but they both look forward to these evenings every week.


	7. Childhood Friends (Remile)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emile Picani isn’t quite sure what to do about his crush on his childhood friend Remy, but a movie night mixed with a little wine just might bring the truth out of both of them.

Remy strolled into the large office building, his body relaxed and his messenger bag bouncing lightly against his leg. He leaned over the reception desk and smiled at the secretary, pushing his sunglasses to the top of his head. “Here to see Picani. You know the drill.”

The secretary—Judith, her nametag read—rolled her eyes. “Dr. Picani is currently in the middle of a session with a patient. I’ll let him know you’re here when it is over.”

Remy groaned but he knew better than to argue—he didn’t blame the people who needed Emile’s help, he just hated waiting. He sauntered into the waiting room and slumped down in a chair, pulling out his phone to scroll through Tumblr while he waited.

“Do you know Dr. Picani?” someone in the waiting room asked. Remy looked up to see a kid decked out in mostly black and greys, complete with a little bit of eyeliner, watching him.

“You could say that,” Remy said. “We grew up together.”

The kid raised their eyebrows. “Wow…”

“What?”

“You just don’t strike me as a pair that would work together.”

Remy smirked. “Yeah, we get that a lot.”

“So uh, can I ask what his deal is with cartoons?”

Remy glanced over at them. Emile had been pretty clear that in times like these he didn’t want Remy talking too much about him to his patients. Then again, this question was something Remy was pretty used to answering.

“He just likes cartoons,” Remy shrugged, “always has. The same way some people really like certain kinds of music or movies.”

The kid nodded, though Remy could tell that wasn’t the answer they were hoping for. Oh well, that was all they were going to get. Emile didn’t like his patients knowing too much about him, or anything about him, really, unless they specifically asked, or it related to whatever issues the patient needed to work out. Something about it conflicted with work.

Just then, another kid (who was he kidding, these people were probably around the same age as him, but just about everyone looked like a kid to him) came down the hallway, Emile following behind them.

“I still stand by the fact that Inside Out is the best,” the patient said.

“Clearly it’s Wall-E,” Emile said, shaking his head. He saw Remy, then and grinned. “Remy! Please tell this young man that Wall-E is the far better Pixar movie.”

“Sorry doc, that goes to Ratatouille.”

“You’re biased because the main character has your name!”

“Hell yeah I am,” Remy said with a smirk.

“I like Brave,” eyeliner kid muttered.

Emile sighed. “You’re all crazy.”

“Says the psychologist,” Remy said, getting to his feet.

Emile only gave him a fond look before turning back to his patient. “I’ll see you next month Kai, and maybe try re-watching a movie or two.”

Kai was already headed towards the door. “It’s not gonna change my mind.” They called before leaving.

“Well it was worth a try,” Emile said, smoothly turning to the other patient. “Elliot, I’ll be with you as soon as I finish filing away Kai’s notes.”

“I don’t have any place else to be.”

“…okay you’re being serious, I wasn’t sure for a moment.”

Remy cleared his throat. Emile looked at him. “And Remy, what can I do for you? As happy as I am to see you, I don’t really have much time…”

Remy held up a hand. “I know, I was on my way home from a job and thought I’d stop by to give you this,” he handed Emile a Starbucks cup of hot chocolate, “and this,” he dug through his bag to find what he was looking for. It was a Steven Universe blind bag, which he handed over to his excited looking friend.

Emile grinned. “Aw, thanks Rem!” he threw his arms around Remy, making the other boy blush.

“Ah, um, yeah, anything for you. thought you’d like it. Anyway, I should get going, let you get back to work.”

“Oh, come by later! We need to catch up.”

“Yeah, sounds good. See ya later doc.” Remy flicked his sunglasses back into place. “Later babes.” He shot finger guns at Judith and Elliot before sauntering out of the building, whistling.

 

“Alright Elliot, what would you like to start with today?” Emile asked as he sat down in his chair and Elliot sat on the couch across from him.

“was that your boyfriend? That Remy guy?”

Emile looked up in surprise at that. “Remy? Oh, no, we’re just good friends.”

“Oh. I was just asking because you kinda looked like boyfriends.” Elliot shrugged, but there was a small almost knowing smirk on their face.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Elliot. Buuuuuut speaking of boyfriends, how are you and Mitchell?”

“Deflective much,” Elliot muttered.

“I could say the same to you.”

“Elliot…”

“I know, I know, sorry. Just saying.”

“Well i appreciate your concern, but we’re here to talk about you. Now, let’s talk about why Brave is your favorite Pixar movie…”

 

After his last patient, Emile closed the door to his office to finish up sorting through all his notes, though his mind wasn’t really on the filing. He was thinking about Remy, and about what Elliot had said. Emile always thought he was good at reading body language and tone, but Remy was always so…complicated. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that they’d been friends for so long that Remy had learned how to evade Emile’s careful gaze.

Still, though, he would think that he would know if his best friend was interested in him romantically…right?

Emile bit his lip as he put away the last file, then started gathering his things to go home.

It wasn’t like Emile didn’t like Remy, he did. they’d been friends for as long as he could remember, and it was probably around high school when he realized how much he liked Remy. He hadn’t been able to talk to him about it, though, since Remy had a boyfriend at the time. then they went to college and Emile focused entirely on getting his doctorate degree. That and using his newfound freedom to buy every toy and plushie he’d ever wanted as a child.

Sighing, Emile slung his bag over his shoulder and walked out of the office.

 

Remy lounged on Emile’s couch, a glass of wine in hand. He’d been waiting for Emile to get home for at least an hour. He was tempted to call him and ask what was taking so long, but that would defeat the purpose of surprising him.

Maybe coming to his house when he wasn’t there wasn’t the best idea, but Remy had been bored at his apartment. Besides, it wasn’t like this was a new thing. They had a habit of dropping by each other’s places so much that they both just have a spare key. They hadn’t been able to visit for a while, though, both of them being too busy. Sometimes, Remy hated that his job made him travel around a lot. He did miss his friend a lot when he was gone.

Remy sighed and closed his eyes. For a moment, he let his confident, sassy, façade drop. He was…very tired. He desperately needed some time with his friend, even if being with said friend brings up weird, complicated feelings. Like how Remy’s heart had fluttered when Emile had hugged him earlier, or how all Remy wanted to do was be with him.

Maybe he really was catching feelings for Emile, but he wasn’t really sure. Ever since his last breakup, he hadn’t really wanted to be with anybody else.

Suddenly, Remy heard a key in the lock. He sat up, slipping his sunglasses over his eyes.

“Remy!” Emile exclaimed, coming in. “I thought that was your car. What are you doing here? Don’t you have work in the morning?”

“Nah, I rescheduled all my appointments tomorrow for another day. I need a personal day.”

“Personal days are important,” Emile said, nodding with approval. “Any reason why?”

Remy pushes his glasses down a little so he could look over them at Emile. “Don’t try to psychoanalyze me doc.”

Emile laugh and throws his bag down beside the couch, plopping down next to him. “What, I can’t ask my friend what’s wrong?”

Remy smirked and pushed his glasses back up, sipping his wine. “To answer your question, I’ve been trying to save up some money for a new place, so I’ve been working a lot.”

“Oh, finally?’

Remy rolled his eyes and lightly shoved Emile, who just laughed. Remy took a swig of his wine, trying to ignore how much he really liked Emile’s laugh.

“Oh! Also, I thought we could have a movie night,” Remy said, picking up the remote and turning the TV on, where a Disney logo was on pause.

Emile raised his eyebrows. “Let me guess, Ratatouille?”

“You know,” Remy smirked. “Mister Wall-E-is-the-best-Pixar-movie. You and I both know you don’t have a favorite. It’d be like picking your favorite child.”

“But it is a good way to get patients to open up,” Emile said, pouring himself a glass of wine in the cup Remy had set out for him.

“I’ve taught you well,” Remy said, throwing an arm around him and raising his glass.

Emile clinked his glass against Remy’s and leaned against him. “Don’t brag, I did go to school for this you know.”

“But how did we become friends?”

Emile just rolled his eyes. “Just play the movie.”

Chuckling, Remy did as he was told and pulled Emile closer against him, and he tried not to smile too much when Emile just snuggled against him.

 

About halfway through the movie, Emile sat up and paused it. He was feeling a little warm and fuzzy from the wine, and he had something he wanted to ask Remy.

“Everything okay? Why’d you pause it?” Remy asked. His cheeks were a little flushed too, though Emile doubted he was as tipsy as Emile was.

“Can I ask you something?” Emile asked, propping his chin on Remy’s shoulder.

“uh, yeah, sure, whatever you want,” Remy said, his cheeks reddening a little.

“How come we never dated?”

Remy sat up at that, making Emile sit up too. “Where’s this coming from?”

“It’s been on my mind.”

Remy set down his glass and leaned back, his eyes still hidden by his sunglasses, but Emile got the feeling that he was deep in thought.

“Well,” Remy started, “I never really knew if you wanted to.”

Emile tilted his head slightly. “And you were dating Jax.”

Remy frowned. “I dated Jax in high school…”

“And through college,” Emile propped his head on his hand. “Everyone thought you two would get married. And you loved each other. I know. I’m a doctor.”

Remy let out a small laugh. “Yeah…yeah I did love him you know how it ended…”

“Yeah.” Jax had cheated on Remy, something that had surprised just about everyone.

“I guess the real question is, why didn’t you ever ask me out after Jax and I broke up?” Remy asked, resting his arm on the back of the couch.

“Thought you didn’t like me.”

“Well I do.”

“You do?”

“Yeah.”

Emile sat up and leaned forward. He gently reached up and took Remy’s sunglasses off of him. His eyes were wide and gave away just how nervous the other boy was. “Can I kiss you?”

Remy leaned away a little. “Emile, maybe we should talk when we’re both more sober.”

Emile pouted. “I’m still plenty in control of my actions.”

“Still…”

“Are you scared?” Emile asked, smirking. Remy gulped. Emile gently took his hand and kissed it. “Don’t be. We can wait if you want. I’ve waited long enough for you.”

“Cheesy much?”

“Cheesy breezy.”

Remy chuckled. “Why don’t we finish the movie?”

“Mkay.”

Remy wrapped his arm around Emile and played the movie.

 

Two movies and a whole pizza later, Remy was gathering his things to head home.

“You sure you’re good to drive?”

“The food sobered me up Milly I’m fine,” Remy said, rolling his eyes.

“I’m just saying, you can stay here if you want.”

Remy smirked. “You sure that’s the only reason you want me to stay?”

Emile’s face flushed, which Remy had to admit was very, very cute.

He had to admit that he was more the pleased by their earlier conversation. They’d spend the past few hours cuddling and commentating on the movies, and just in general pretending they hadn’t just confessed their feelings fro each other while they’d both been a little tipsy.

“I’ll be fine,” Remy said, squeezing Emile’s arm. He turned to go, but Emile caught his arm before he could take a single step away.

“I meant what I said earlier Rem,” He said, his eyes downcast.

Remy smiled and stepped towards him, lifting his chin and pressing their lips together.

The kiss was sweet, and a little uncertain. This was new for both of them, but somehow neither of them minded. They’d waited this long for each other after all.

When they pulled away there was a huge grin on both of their faces.

“I think I could stay a little while longer,” Remy said with a smirk.


	8. One Bad Day (Prinxiety)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil’s had a bad day that only seems to be getting worse. All he wants is the comfort of Roman’s arms to help him through the rest of the day

Virgil slammed the door to his car closed, flinching slightly when there was a loud thud, indicating he’d closed it a bit too hard. He sighed and shook his head as he headed towards the front door, but his foot caught on the steps and he fell forward, scraping his hand on the concrete in the process.

“Son of a—” Virgil bit his lip, closed his eyes, and took a moment or two to try and calm down. After taking a few deep breaths, he got himself off the ground and made his way inside.

“Hello?” He called, hoping that someone would be home, despite the lack of other cars in the driveway. He hoped his boyfriend would be there, but at this point he’d take any decent company he could get. He could use Logan’s calm words of logic or Patton’s stupid jokes and comforting hugs. Mostly, though, he just wanted Roman.

Unfortunately, it seemed like everyone else was still out, so Virgil was on his own. Trying not to be too disappointed, Virgil went to his room and changed into a pair of pajama pants and an over sized sweater, more than happy to be out of his jeans and long sleeve shirt that had started to feel extremely tight on him the longer the day went on.

His day had been—for lack of a better word—shit. Nothing had gone right from the moment he’d woken up that morning. It seemed like the universe was hell bent on making sure that Virgil had the worst day ever, no matter what Virgil tried to do to help himself. He’d spilled his favorite coffee all over himself, ruining his favorite jacket. His phone died randomly, which kept him from listening to any of his calming music. Not to mention that there was a massive traffic jam on the way home, so he’d had to sit through the whole thing without anything to keep him occupied.

Virgil hoped that now that he was home, he could finally sit down and relax. He’d been hoping that Roman would be home by the time he got there, but it seemed that his boyfriend was working late. Something that Virgil probably would have known hours ago if it weren’t for his phone breaking.

Trying salvage what was left of the day, Virgil made his way to the kitchen to make himself a small snack and hoped that there would be some green tea left for him to make.

After devouring a peanut butter and banana sandwich, Virgil started on the tea. He started to feel a little better as he worked, the silence of the house welcome for once. He could feel the tightness in his chest that had been building all day slowly start to settle and loosen.

At least until he leaned back against the counter and elbowed the coffee mug he was going to use onto the floor, making it shatter.

Virgil buried his head in his hands, trying to hold back the tears that were making their way into his eyes. He took a few deep breaths before opening his eyes and carefully kneeled down and started picking up pieces of the mug. He’d just about gotten all of them when he lost his balance while trying to stand and he fell, a piece of ceramic slicing through his skin.

“Fuck!” Virgil shouted, glad for a moment that Patton wasn’t home to get on to him. Tears stung his eyes, and this time he let them fall. Of course, with how his day had gone, he would slice open his hand. There was already a small pool of blood forming on the floor below his hand.

Virgil hissed as he stood, grasping for the paper towels on the counter. He started to press against the cut, only to wince again as he realized that there was still a piece of glass in his hand. He managed to get it out, but with a lot of cursing and bleeding.

He grabbed a wash cloth from the laundry and pressed it against his hand, sniffling both from the pain and the stress of the day. Once the tears started coming, though, they didn’t stop. His breath hitched, and he pressed his back against the door frame of the laundry room, slowly sliding down as he sobbed.

 

Roman pushed through the door to the house, glad to finally be home. He dropped his jacket by the door, making a mental note to pick it up later before Logan got on to him for it.

“Virge?” Roman called, having seen his boyfriend’s car in the driveway when he came in. “Virgil, love, I’m home!”

There wasn’t a response. Roman frowned and went back to their room. Virgil’s things were there, his clothes thrown haphazardly on the floor. Roman went back to the living room, just as he heard a small thud from the laundry room, followed by a sob.

“Virgil?” Roman called again, rushing to the laundry room. He caught a glimpse of the kitchen as he passed it and stopped. There were broken pieces of a mug all over the floor, along with specks of blood. Roman bit his lip before following the sounds of the crying.

He found Virgil sitting in the door way, his head leaned back against the doorframe. He had a cloth pressed against his hand. Roman kneeled beside Virgil. “Virgil, honey, I’m here, I’m here.”

Virgil just cried as he turned and practically fell against Roman, burying his face against Roman’s neck. Roman held him, rubbing his back as he did so. He let Virgil cry for a bit before pulling away. “Hey,” he said gently, “let me see that hand.”

Virgil sniffed and held out his hand, shaking slightly. Roman gently took it and lifted the cloth off of it. The cut didn’t seem to be deep, and the bleeding was slowing. The cloth was ruined, but that was the least of his worries.

“Come on, let’s get this cleaned up okay?” Roman said. Virgil only nodded and let Roman help him up. They went to the bathroom, Roman not trusting Virgil’s bare feet on the kitchen floor until he’d cleaned up all of the glass.

Roman helps Virgil clean the cut and bandage it. By the time they were finished, Virgil had stopped crying, though he still looked extremely upset.

“Rough day?” Roman asked, keeping his voice soft.

Virgil nodded, leaning his head against Roman’s shoulder. Roman looped his arm around Virgil’s waist and kissed his head.

“Alright, come on. Go lie down on the couch while I change and clean up the kitchen.”

Though it seemed like the last thing Virgil wanted to do was let go of Roman, he did as he was told, curling into a ball on the couch as soon as he lied down. Roman leaned down and kissed his cheek before walking away.

After he had the kitchen cleaned and he’d changed into his own pair of pajamas, he walked back to the couch. All he had to do was put a hand on Virgil’s arm to get him to sit up.

Roman sat down and Virgil immediately curled up in his lap, resting his head against Roman’s chest. Smiling, Roman wrapped his arms protectively around Virgil, being cautious of his injured hand.

“Today sucked,” Virgil muttered.

Roman chuckled and kissed his head again. “Let’s make sure the rest of it is better, okay?”

Virgil mumbled something Roman couldn’t understand and pressed closer to him. Roman glanced behind him and grabbed the blanket draped over the couch before tucking it around them. he could feel Virgil relax slowly but surely, making sure to rub his back and shoulders to help.

Eventually Virgil looked up at him and reached up with his good hand to pull Roman down into a slow, lazy kiss. Roman carded his hands through his hair, making Virgil melt even more.

When they pulled apart, Roman smiled at his boyfriend. “Feeling any better?”

Virgil shrugged. “A little.”

“Good,” Roman kissed him again before settling back against the couch. “I love you.”

Virgil smiled, the first one Roman had seen since he got home. “I love you too.”

When Patton and Logan got home later that night, they found the two curled up on the couch, fast asleep, both of them as content as could be.


	9. Just Let Me Sleep (Prinxiety)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a Human/College AU where Virgil is left alone with musical theatre major roommate Roman who keeps practicing his songs very loudly into the early morning hours and all Virgil wants is to go to sleep.

Virgil buried his head under his pillow, pressing the cloth against his ears. Even still, he was able to hear the constant singing coming from the room down the hall. Groaning, Virgil throws the pillow to the end of his bed, as if that would stop the theatre dork from singing the same song for the millionth time.

Why oh why did Virgil agree to room with a musical theatre major? He should have never let Patton talk him into it. He’ll barely be home, Patton had said, he’ll have rehearsals every night, you won’t even know he was there.

Yet here the star was, at two in the morning, singing his lungs out as if other people didn’t live in this apartment too. Virgil was so close to just storming down to Roman’s room and breaking his rehearsal CD just for the sake of getting some sleep.

It’s not like Virgil could rely on his other roommates either. Logan had gone to a study session with a group of people from his law class and had stayed over since the session had gone on so late. Patton was at home visiting family, which left only Virgil and Roman alone.

Now Virgil understood why Logan had picked this night to be out of the house. With how obsessed that boy was with studying, he wouldn’t have stood for Roman’s constant singing. Virgil honestly couldn’t blame him for staying away.

Roman’s voice rose to a crescendo, making it echo through the entire apartment. Virgil felt something in him snap.

“PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP IN THIS GODFORSAKEN WORLD COULD YOU PLEASE STOP YOUR ANNOYING SINGING!”

Roman stopped singing, and for a moment Virgil thought that had actually worked, but that would be too good to be true.

“I’M TRYING TO REHURSE COULD YOU KEEP IT DOWN?”

Virgil’s fists curled in the sheets of his bed. “AREN’T YOU SUPPOSED TO GET YOUR BEAUTY REST OR SOMETHING? GO TO SLEEP!”

“NOT UNTIL I GET THIS SONG DOWN!”

“ROMAN GO THE FUCK TO SLEEP!”

“YOU’RE JUST JEALOUS BECAUSE I HAVE A BEAUTIFUL VOICE!”

“NO I’M CRANKY BECAUSE SOMEONE WON’T LET ME SLEEP!”

Suddenly, there was a loud banging on the wall. “IF BOTH OF YOU FUCKERS DON’T SHUT THE HELL UP AND GO TO SLEEP I’M REPORTING YOU FOR NOISE!”

Virgil scowled at the ceiling. Maybe the neighbor should just mind his own damn business. Besides, it wasn’t Virgil’s fault that Roman was being an annoying asshole. Though Roman stopped the music and the house was filled with blissful silence, so he suppose that the neighbor had helped a little.

Sighing in relief, Virgil closed his eyes to finally get some sleep just as there was a knock on his door. He couldn’t help the groan that escaped him. “Dude, go to bed,” he says as Roman opens his door.

“You know, it’s very unbefitting to shout at someone while they are in the middle of something,” Roman says, scowling and crossing his arms.

Virgil rolls his eyes. “Tell me again when I care.” He flops back on his bed and rolls over so his back was facing his roommate. “Besides, don’t you have to save your voice for shows? Singing at the top of your lungs at two in the morning and shouting at your roommate seems to be the opposite of helpful.”

“Oh, so now you want to help me?” Roman asks.

“Did you just come in here to disturb me even more?” Virgil asks.

“Actually, I was hoping you could run lines with—”

“Oh for fucks sakes,” Virgil says, sitting up and reaching over to turn his lamp on. “It’s two in the morning. Go to bed. Just go put on one of those herbal face masks you use all the time and go to sleep.”

Roman scowls. “I cannot sleep until I know I have this part right!” he exclaims. “My character is such a complex and emotional person! I must figure out how to portray them accurately. It will do no one any good for the Great Roman to flub a role.”

Virgil rolls his eyes, but he saw the anxiousness in Roman’s eyes, the need to play his part right, to show that he was as good as everyone thought he was. Virgil had to say that he was no stranger to having to hold up to others standards of him, though probably not as much as Roman was.

“Look,” Virgil says, rubbing his eyes. “I’ll help you with your lines, but in the morning. Just let me sleep.”

Roman looks him up and down before his shoulders slowly relax. “I think I can do that. Besides, you’re right a prince needs his beauty sleep. How about at eight a.m. sharp over coffee.”

Virgil’s eyes were drooping already from exhaustion. He was half-asleep as Roman was talking and he just wanted to fucking sleep. “Yeah. Yeah sure.”

“It’s a date then. Sweet dreams my dark prince,” Roman says, reaching over to turn the light off.

“Yeah…yeah sweet….” Virgil’s voice trailed off as he lied back down, just as Roman’s words hit him. “Wait, what?” he says, sitting back up, but Roman just shuts the door with an amused chuckle. “Roman? Roman! ROMAN SANDERS GET BACK HERE!”

Another bang on the wall from the neighbor. “OH MY GOD GO TO SLEEP!”


	10. You'll Be in My Heart (Moxiety)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tiny!Virgil can’t sleep so Patton decides to sing him a lullaby to ease his worries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song: “You’ll Be In My Heart” by Phil Collins (I mostly based it on the version that’s sung at the beginning of the movie right after Tarzan was found)

Patton was sitting on the couch in the common space, watching Tarzan late at night. Everyone else had gone to bed long ago, but Patton hadn’t been able to sleep. No reason in particular, really, he just wasn’t sleepy. He figured making himself a warm drink and watching a loved and familiar Disney movie would help him.

It nearly did, too. He could feel himself start to drift off, right when he heard the crying.

Bolting up, Patton looked around, pausing the movie. For a moment, everything was silent. Then he heard it again, a clear wailing from a small child. He got to his feet immediately and walked down the hall to Virgil’s room. Sure enough, when he cracked the door open and peaked in, the younger side was curled under his blanket, sobbing.

“Virge?” Patton calls softly. He walks into the room, slowly making his way to the bed in case Virgil didn’t want any company. But the other side just kept sobbing, not showing any reaction to Patton’s appearance. Patton sat on the edge of the bed, near the small lump. “Hey Virge, kiddo, can you come out from under the blanket for me?”

There was a pause, and then some shifting. A moment later Virgil’s small head popped up from under the blanket. He took one look at Patton and started bawling again, throwing himself into Patton’s arms. “Dada!” he exclaims, burrowing his head in Patton’s chest. Patton wrapped his arms around the tiny side, swallowing past the lump in his throat at the sobs that came out of Virgil. He hated it when anyone cried, let alone the small child in his lap.

“Shhh, it’s okay. I’m here,” he whispers, rocking Virgil back and forth.

“I had a scawy nightmare,” Virgil sniffed, arms tightening around Patton’s neck. “I dwemt that you left me.”

“Oh honey,” Patton says, rubbing soothing circles on Virgil’s back. “I would never leave you.”

Virgil sniffed. “Pwomise?’

“Promise,” Patton says. He pulls away from the hug just enough to look down at the child. “Do you want some warm milk before going back to bed?”

Sniffling, Virgil nodded and wrapped his arms back around Patton’s neck. Patton picked him up and carried him into the kitchen, holding him the entire time that he was warming up the milk. He added a bit of honey to make it even sweeter, just how Virgil liked it.

The two of them sat in the living room, Patton’s movie forgotten. He held Virgil as the younger side drank his milk, still crying and sniffling a little. Patton ran his hands through Virgil’s hair as a way to try to get him to go to sleep. Even when the milk was finished, though, there were still tears running down Virgil’s face.

“Hey,” Patton says, turning Virgil in his lap so Patton could look down at him, “why are you still crying?”

“I’m afwaid,” Virgil admits, looking down like he was embarrassed. “I’m afwaid of dweaming again.”

Patton held Virgil close, rocking him again, trying to think of a good way to make Virgil not afraid anymore. He stared at the paused screen of Tarzan and an idea struck him. “How about a song?”

Virgil looks up at him. “Song?”

Patton chuckles. “Roman’s not the only one around here who can carry a tune you know.”

Virgil looks up at him with wide, curious eyes, and that was all the confirmation that Patton needed. He cleared his throat and started singing.

“Come stop your crying, it’ll be alright

Just take my hand, hold it tight.

I will protect you from all around you, I will be here don’t you cry.”

Patton brushed away Virgil’s tears, wrapping him in a hug. 

“For one so small, you seem so strong.

My arms will hold you keep you safe and warm.

This bond between us can’t be broken.

I will be here don’t you cry.”

Virgil snuggled against Patton, sighing contently. Patton smiled and pushed back the small trait’s hair. He rocked them gently to the song, hoping that Virgil took every word as the truth.

“Cause you’ll be in my heart

Yes, you’ll be in my heart.

From this day on, now and forever more.

You’ll be in my heart.

No matter what they say.

You’ll be here in my heart, always.”

Patton leaned down to kiss the top of Virgil’s head. The younger one’s eyes were already starting to droop, his head lolling against Patton’s chest. Smiling softly, Patton stood and slowly started walking back to Virgil’s room. He sang the rest of the song as he put Virgil back into bed and tucked the covers around him.

Virgil snuggled down into the covers and reached out for Patton’s hand. He didn’t want his dad to go just yet. He wanted to hear the rest of the song.

Smiling, Patton rubbed circles on the back of Virgil’s hand, still singing softly. As Virgil was drifting off to sleep, Patton finished out the song.

“You’ll be in my heart,” he whispers into Virgil’s ear before kissing his forehead. “Always.”


	11. Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, you just feel alone in a room full of people

Patton strolled into the lounge, humming happily to himself. He was in a fairly good mood that day. Thomas had gotten most of what he needed to get done, done, and Patton was feeling the satisfaction of having accomplished something. No doubt this was reflecting on Thomas as well, which just made things even better.

In fact, the entire mind space seemed to be in a happy place. Roman and Virgil were sitting on the couch, talking about the ups and downs of different Disney movies and not bickering for once. Logan was in his room working on scheduling and planning for more projects, but his door was propped open which was a good sign that he could be interrupted at any time and he wouldn’t mind at all.

As for Patton, he was planning to do some baking. Baking when in a good mood always seemed to make the end product better somehow. He waved to Roman and Virgil as he headed for the kitchen, but stopped half way, suddenly feeling…off.

Behind him, the other two were still debating, though good heartedly. Upstairs, he could hear the faint sounds of classical music coming from Logan’s open room. Patton glanced over at Virgil, but the anxious side seem to be doing just fine. If he felt that something was off, he was either ignoring it or just didn’t notice.

Shaking his head, Patton went back to what he was doing, though the happy humming had stopped. He couldn’t help but feel weird. He’d been in such a good mood a moment ago, what happened?

Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore. He sunk out of the mind space and popped up in Thomas’s living room. He had guests over, which was nothing new. In fact, they all had added to the good mood, as Thomas was always happiest when around his friends. Standing in the back, Patton watched what was happening to see if there was any reason for his sudden bad feeling.

Thomas was sitting on the couch, watching a movie along with everyone else. Well, “watching.” Everyone was talking over it. From what Patton could tell, it was about anything but the movie. Thomas, however, seemed to be trying to watch, or at least hold a conversation about the actual movie. No one was listening, though.

Patton watched as Thomas turned to one of his friends and tried to get them in a conversation. It wasn’t even about the movie at this point, just about anything. That friend, however, was engrossed in a different conversation on their phone. Thomas turned to another friend to ask them something, but they were in the middle of a different conversation and completely ignored him.

Patton saw Thomas sigh, and he felt the ache. The loneliness. Patton could feel that good mood ebbing away slowly. It wouldn’t be long before the others felt it too. Patton had just been the first because he was the heart. He was Thomas’s emotions. Soon enough Virgil would be there, wondering if everyone hated him. Then Logan would be there, trying to convince Patton and Virgil that everyone else was simply enjoying themselves, that they should just enjoy the movie. The Roman would show up, trying to think of different ways to engage everyone in an activity.

Patton ran a hand through his hair, looking around at everyone having a good time and not noticing how bummed out Thomas looked. For a moment, Thomas looked up and seemed to lock eyes with him, and Patton’s shoulders slummed at the look that reflected exactly what he was feeling.

Loneliness. Aching loneliness that came from being ignored. Patton hated it. It was one of his least favorite emotions. All Thomas wanted to do was have a good time with his friends, catch up with some of them. but all they seemed to want was to hang out with each other and not even bother to include him, no matter that he was the host of this party.

Patton could sense the others popping up around him. Logan to his left, Virgil to his right, Roman beside him. It didn’t matter, though. They were all part of one person. It didn’t ease the aching or bring any kind of comfort. They couldn’t be of any comfort to Thomas in this instant than they could to each other, and that fact probably hit Patton the hardest. He felt the tears start, and saw the mirrored in Thomas’s eyes.

Thomas stood and walked upstairs to his bedroom, where no one could see his tears. He closed the door behind him, locked it, and slid down to the floor.

No one noticed he’d left.


	12. Creatures of the Night (LAMP)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Sides decide to have a bond fire on Halloween night in Roman’s realm. Little do they know something lurks in the dark (you are in no way required to take this seriously at all, i was just having fun with it)

“Remind me of why we’re doing this again?” Virgil asks as he, Patton, and Logan make their way through Roman’s daydream land.

“Because it’s Halloween Virgil!” Patton says, happily ducking under tree branches. “Roman thought it would be a good idea for all of us to spend it together! Thomas is just spending the night handing out candy and watching Stranger Things so that means we can do what we want!”

“That’s not exactly how it works,” Logan mutters from behind Virgil.

Virgil agreed, though there was no arguing with how excited Patton was, or the fact that both Virgil and Logan had agreed to this.

In the distance, they saw flickering light against the wood of the trees. “There it is!” Patton says, pointing to the light and running towards it. Logan and Virgil exchange exasperated looks before following him.

When they emerged in the small clearing, they all stopped and look up at the figure towering above them.

“Welcome to my domain,” Roman said in his attempt at a deep, spooky voice. “Enter if you dare but beware!”

“Seriously? Is that the best you could come up with?” Logan asks.

Roman—who was dressed as Count Dracula, complete with fake blood and fangs—hopped down and creeped towards them. “Do not underestimate the creatures of the night. You are in their home now…” he wrapped his cape around him and then…he was gone.

The other three froze for a moment, looking around. “Where did he…?” Virgil started, but then there was a flash of white and red and Patton screamed.

Virgil and Logan whirled, seeing Roman with an arm wrapped around Patton, his very realistic fangs inches from Patton’s throat.

“Oh great, now look what you’ve done. He’s not going to be able to sleep for a week,” Logan says with a sigh, motioning to Patton’s terrified face.

Roman grinned and in the firelight, he did look…a little sinister. “The monsters of the night pray on the purest hearts, the strongest minds, and the darkest souls. Watch your back, my friends, or you may be next.”

“Honestly, Roman stop it, you’re just going to make Thomas be up even later than Virgil makes him in the first place,” Logan says, not impressed.

Roman released Patton, who was trembling slightly, and slinked over to Logan. “Do you not fear the monsters of the night? Do you not tremble at the thought of your precious little brain,” Roman started to draw a finger across Logan’s forehead before the other side knocked his hand away, “being taken from you?”

“No because we are parts of a person and that is physically impossible to do in this daydream land of yours, so why don’t we just get whatever this is over and go back?” Logan says.

“Ah, my friend, you are mistaken,” Roman says. “for the creatures of the night lurk everywhere. But come, sit. We will have a grand time…”

Damn Roman and his good acting.

Through the entire night, Virgil and Patton were on edge. Though Virgil knew that Logan was probably right, he couldn’t get the knowing, almost evil look Roman had given them out of his mind. Patton was already shaken from being scared earlier, and he clung to Logan for support.

Both of them relaxed a little as they roasted s’mores and Roman seemed to go back to being his usual self. Still, though, Virgil couldn’t shake the feeling that something was watching them.

After the marshmallows were gone, and all the chocolate wrappers had been thrown into the fire, Logan stood. “While you earlier display was tiresome, I admit this was fun. We should all retire back to the mind palace now, as it’s getting late.”

“Are you in a hurry? Are you scared?” Roman asks, shooting Logan a fang filled smile.

“No, I simply don’t want us to—” Logan was cut off by Patton screaming again. He turned to the moral side with an exasperated look. “What is the matter, Patton?”

“I thought I saw something!” Patton exclaims, grabbing Logan’s arm in fear.

Logan rolls his eyes. “It was probably an animal or Roman attempting to scare you again. There is nothing to be concerned about.”

“Uhh…guys…” Virgil says, looking around the fire. “Where’d Roman go?” the others look around as well, but it seemed that the creative side had simply vanished when he’d been sitting next to Virgil a moment ago.

“AH, see, he’s attempting to scare you two again,” Logan says with a reassuring smile.

“B-b-but Logan what if—”

Patton was cut off by a scream in the distance. At this point, even Virgil was getting freaked out. He stood and started rushing to Logan before something reached out of the darkness and grabbed him.

“I feed on the darkest of souls,” a mutilated voice whispered from the darkness.

“Llllooooggeeeennnnnn,” Patton whined, clinging tightly to Logan’s arm.

Logan, flustered, looked around. “Okay, Roman, Virgil, haha we got the joke. Now stop it and come out.”

Nothing but the sound of the fire crackling and Patton’s whimpering answered him. Patton looked around, trembling.

“Logan what are we going to do? They got Virgil!”

“No one got Virgil, Patton. This is simply Roman and Virgil playing a silly prank,” Logan syas, though his voice was starting to tremble ever so slightly.

Then there was only the sound of the rustle of leaves before something reached out and wrapped around Patton’s neck, yanking him away from Logan.

“AHHHHHHH LOGAN!” Patton yelled, pure terror in his voice. Logan whirled around to try and see what had taken him, but saw only darkness.

“I feed on the purest of hearts,” a different voice said, sending shivers down Logan’s spine.

Logan shifted, trying to keep his breathing calm. “Okay, okay, jokes over. You guys can stop this now.”

There was some rustling, sounding as if something were jumping from tree to tree all around him. Logan tried to fight the trembling, but he couldn’t help the irrational fear inside of him.

“And I…” yet another voice growls, “I feed on the strongest minds.” 

“Then the monster jumps out and take Logan, who’s screaming like a little girl at this point,” Thomas says, curling his fingers into claws to mimic the jumping.

“Okay, but what’s the monster?” Joan asks. “Is it Roman?”

“That’s the scary part about it,” Thomas says. “no one knows. They’ll all just wake up back in their rooms.”

“But Roman knows,” Joan says.

“Oh yeah,” Thomas says, leaning back. “Roman knows everything that goes on in my daydreams.”


	13. Dance With Me (Logicality)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton is up late, not being able to sleep, so he decides to do some baking. Logan, having woken up to his bed empty, decides to investigate. he finds Patton in the kitchen dancing to music while baking, and Patton prompts him to join him.

Logan was awoken by the divine smell of…cake?

Sure that his nose was playing tricks on him, he sat up, putting his glasses on and rubbing his eyes tiredly. After taking a few more whiffs of the air, he decided that the smell was not, in fact, a figment of his imagination, but rather a real scent that seemed to be filling the apartment. That coupled with the empty spot next to him told him everything he needed to know.

Groaning, Logan got out of bed. What was his boyfriend up to now?

Walking downstairs, Logan heard music coming from the kitchen. Turning the corner, he saw Patton over the counter that separated the living room from the kitchen. He was in his pajamas, an apron tied around his waist, and he seemed to be dancing to the music as he baked.

For a moment Logan leaned against the counter, his head propped on his hand, as he watched Patton’s absurdity. Why his boyfriend was up at two in the morning baking a cake and dancing, he had no idea. However, Logan was not complaining if it meant Patton’s delicious baking as well as Logan getting to witness…whatever was happening before him.

Patton spun around, using a spatula as a microphone, and jumped when he saw Logan grinning at him. “Logan!” Patton exclaims, straightening.

“Good morning,” Logan says.

Patton’s face flush. “I, um, I couldn’t sleep.”

“I’ve gathered as much.”

Patton grinned before turning back to the batter. “Don’t let me keep you up!” he says. “Get some sleep.”

“Well how can I sleep with that smell everywhere?” Logan asks.

Patton looked over at him and grinned. “Want to help then?”

“I suppose.”

Logan joined Patton in the kitchen, helping to measure out the ingredients for a second cake, if the smell from the oven was anything to go by. Patton kept bouncing up and down to the beat of the song, singing it under his breath. Logan couldn’t help but smile at his boyfriend. He had to admit that Patton was quite adorable. It did, however, get to the point where Patton was too focused on dancing rather than mixing. Logan just leaned against the counter and watched him with his arms crossed, a small smile on his lips.

Patton looked over at his boyfriend and held his hand out. “Dance with me?”

Logan shook his head. “You know I don’t—” Patton grabbed Logan’s hand and spun him around.

“I can’t dance either!” Patton said with a delighted laugh. “Why should we let that stop us?” Patton grabbed Logan’s hands and started swinging them, encouraging Logan to dance with him.

Biting his lip, Logan let Patton lead him into a dance. Eventually, they were both laughing and dancing—badly—together. Patton was right. Why should the fact the they couldn’t dance stop them? Besides it was just the two of them, so what’s the harm?

Meanwhile Roman and Virgil crouched on the stairs, watching the other two, Virgil with a phone in his hand.

“You getting this?” Roman asks/

“Oh yeah.” Virgil says with a smirk. “this is going to be blackmail material for weeks.”

“We’re never going to let them live this down are we?”

Virgil bit his lip as Patton went to spin Logan around, making the nerd nearly slip and fall. “Never.”


	14. Are You Flirting With Me? (Analogical)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan’s been a regular customer at Virgil’s restaurant where he works. Every time he comes in, he insists on having Virgil as a server, and though his friends insist that Logan’s got a crush on him, Virgil just can’t see it. At least until he realizes that Logan is attempting to ask him out.

“Virgil! Logan’s at table five!”

Virgil felt himself tense up. Four o’clock on the dot, just like always. He didn’t know why he was always surprised when Logan showed up. He came to the restaurant Virgil worked at every Tuesday at four o’clock and sat in Virgil’s section. It’s gotten to the point where whoever was hosting (usually either Patton or Roman) went ahead and sat Logan in Virgil’s section without having to be asked. They knew that Logan would just ask anyway.

Virgil didn’t know why Logan always requested him. He just…did. And every week Virgil seemed to find some kind of way to humiliate himself. Be it messing up Logan’s order, dropping his food, spilling his drink. Virgil was just not as good at his job whenever Logan was here. And it had nothing to do with the crush Virgil had developed over the other boy over the past few months. Nothing at all…

Shaking his head, Virgil made his way out into the dining room. The bespectacled boy was sitting by the window, in the corner, where he usually sat if he could help it. He looked up as Virgil walked over. “Ah, Virgil. How are you doing?’

“I, um, good,” Virgil says. Okay, so far so good. He fumbles with his notepad and pen. “It’ll be the usual, I assume, or are you mixing things up today?” God, Virgil, don’t be so casual! He’s a customer, remember?

“I believe I’ll settle for a salad and a lemonade,” Logan says.

Virgil raises his eyebrows. “Lemonade huh? Is there a special occasion, or have you finally figured out that water is boring?”

Shut. The. Hell. Up. Before. You. Embarrass. Yourself. Even. More.

To his surprise, though, Logan only smiled. “I recall you saying that the lemonade was your favorite item here, so I’m inclined to try it.”

Virgil felt his face flush. He ducked his head. He’d mentioned that weeks ago. How did Logan still remember that? He shifted and cleared his throat. “Um, right. Okay so lemonade and…” what was the rest of his order?

“A salad,” Logan says, ever so patiently. “With extra strawberries.”

“Right,” Virgil says, jotting down the order, even though he had it memorized. “Coming right up.” He turned on his heel and walked away, not letting himself breath until he was in the back again.

“Smooth,” Roman mutters as he passes Virgil.

“Shut up,” Virgil mutters back, punching in Logan’s order before going to get his drink. As he was walking back to Logan’s table, he was very careful to watch where he was going so he didn’t ruin this again.

“Thank you, Virgil,” Logan says, Virgil’s hear leaping at the casual way Logan said his name. “Tell me, are those shoes new? They look quite good on you.”

Virgil looked down at his clearly worn down sneakers he’d gotten from Walmart for ten dollars about three years ago. “Um…thanks? They’re not new though…”

“Right,” Logan says, and was it Virgil or were his cheeks flushed? He took a sip of his lemonade. “I have to say, this is good,” he says.

“It’s because it’s fresh,” Virgil says.

“It probably also has something to do with the fact that it was served to me by a pleasing server.”

Virgil froze, staring at the slight smirk on Logan’s lips as he took another sip of lemonade. Eventually, Virgil crossed his arms. “Are…Are you flirting with me?” he asks, dumbfounded.

“Perhaps,” Logan says, that smirk still on his lips.

“Virgil!” Patton called. “You’ve got another table.”

Blinking, Virgil looked over and saw a family sitting down at one of his other tables.

“I suppose I shall see you later then,” Logan says, leaning back and picking his book back up. Just like that, their conversation was over, as if Logan hadn’t just dropped a bomb shell on him. Seeing that he didn’t have much else of a choice, Virgil went to he second table.

 

Virgil didn’t have time to question Logan any further after that. They soon became very busy and Virgil only had time to drop by Logan’s table to give him his food or refill his lemonade. Logan would smile at him, as if he knew that Virgil was swamped and couldn’t stay and talk and he understood. Despite everything…Virgil found himself smiling back.

Virgil wasn’t sure when Logan left, but the next thing he knew, someone else was being seated where Logan had been. He found himself to be disappointed at that. Usually Logan stuck around for a while.

Well, then again, there were a lot of people coming in now. He probably thought he’d leave to make room.

Virgil silently cursed Logan’s generosity. He’d probably left cash too, which Roman or Patton had more than likely picked up for Virgil. Biting his lip, Virgil went to the back, all of his tables taken care of for the moment, and grabbed Roman. “Logan left already?”

Roman grinned at him. “Disappointed, lover boy?’

Virgil’s face flushed. “Shut up I just need the money.”

Roman chuckled. “Patton said he left something for you.”

Virgil’s head snapped up, only making Roman’s grin grow. “You sure you’re not crushing on him?”

Virgil rolled his eyes and left to find Patton. When he was able to pull the other boy aside, Patton smiled and handed Virgil his tip, as well as a folded piece of paper. “He said he didn’t want to disrupt your work,” Patton says.

“Yeah that sounds like Logan,” Virgil muttered, rolling his eyes. He took the paper—really a napkin—and unfolded it.

How about a date? Tonight, after your shift if you’re not too tired. Text me to let me know.

Short and to the point, just like Logan. Virgil couldn’t help the smile on his lips as he folded the napkin and ticked it into the pocket of his apron.

“You look happy,” Patton noted.

Virgil plucked a set of napkins from beside Patton. “Just gotta do the job Pat,” he says, walking back to his tables, Patton smiling and shaking his head after him.

Virgil didn’t care though. He didn’t care that Patton and Roman were smirking at him for the rest of the night. He didn’t care that the people at his tables were giving him weird looks. He was to happy to care.

As soon as his last table had paid and left, Virgil clocked out and got ready to go home.

“You’re eager,” Roman noted.

Virgil smirks at him. “I’ve got a date tonight,” he says, and practically skips out of the restaurant to go get ready.


	15. I Don't Deserved to be Loved (Royality)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman is a perfectionist. He has to come up with all of the best ideas, he has to earn the love of the Fanders, he has to make up for his mistakes. He doesn’t deserve any of love people give him until he does.

Roman paced back and forth in his room. He had to think of a good video idea for next week, but he couldn’t! Al he could think about was the last Sanders Sides video and how it had gone terribly wrong. Nothing had gone the way he’d planned! He’d been hoping that Thomas and the Fanders would be able to appreciate his ideas. He’d filled all of the song with jokes and references to make everyone happy, yet it still hadn’t seemed to work! Even the Fanders had enjoyed Logan’s and Patton’s rewrites better than Roman’s version (and he didn’t even want to think about Virgil’s part)

Plus there had been Logan’s present. Between writing that and the song, Roman was exhausted. He couldn’t stop, though, until he’d come up with the perfect idea for the next video. That would make the Fanders love him. That would make Thomas and the others proud of him. They wouldn’t have anything to criticize. It’d be perfect.

Roman sat down at his desk and started jotting down ideas. He could sleep when he landed on an idea he was happy with. He could eat when Thomas was proud of him. He’d work until he was sure he could be proud of himself.

“Virgil are you okay?” Patton asks. He’d noticed that the anxious side seemed to be jumpy lately, more so than usual. Right now, he was sitting on the couch, staring at nothing. His leg was bouncing up and down as he bites his thumb nail, and he was hunched over looking very, very out of it.

Virgil blinked and glanced at Patton. “Y-Yeah,” he stammers.

“I must agree with Patton’s concern, you do seem a bit out of sorts,” Logan says. “Is there something wrong with Thomas? Perhaps something you would like to talk about?”

Virgil shakes his head. “It’s nothing guys. I just feel a bit off.”

Patton frowns, exchanging worried looks with Logan. This wasn’t anything caused by something in Thomas’s life—he was currently relaxing in bed with a movie, ahead of schedule thanks to Logan—so something else must be wrong.

“Patton are you feeling okay?” Logan asks, his hand on Virgil’s shoulder.

Patton did a mental check. He didn’t feel all that different. Maybe a little…disheartened. Frowning Patton shakes his head. “I don’t know…”

“Well I feel fine,” Logan says. “Perhaps it is Roman. You two are usually linked together concerning many emotions. I suggest you should go and check on him while I sit with Virgil.”

Patton nodded he squeezed Virgil’s shoulder comfortingly before getting up and walking to Roman’s room. The door was closed, the room beyond silent, which was immediately alarming to Patton. Usually there was some kind of sounds coming from Roman’s room, whether it be music or one fantasy or another. Right now, though, it was dead silent.

Cautiously, Patton knocked. “Roman, kiddo, are you okay?”

“Of course I’m okay why wouldn’t I be okay?” Roman calls, his voice too rushed and breathless for Patton to believe him fully.

“Mind if I come in?” Patton asks gently.

“Sure! Fine whatever.”

The irritated and dismissive tone hurt Patton a little, but he opened the door and walked into Roman’s room anyway. Once inside, though, he stopped. The room was covered with papers and broken pencils and pens. Roman, sitting at his desk, was in just as much disarray. His prince outfit hung on the chair, and his hair was disheveled, sticking up in all sorts of directions. He kept running his hands through it, not helping the situation. He wore a plain black t-shirt and red sweat pants, both of which looked wrinkled and worn.

“Roman….”

“What is it Patton?” Roman snaps at him.

Patton stares at him. “What…what happened in here?”

“I’ll tell you,” Roman says. “I’m trying to come up with the perfect idea for the next video! It has to be the most perfect, epic plan I’ve ever concocted!”

“Roman,” Patton says gently, “we can all talk about the next video when we sit down for our brainstorming section. You know Thomas likes to relax a little after a Sanders Sides video.”

“No!” Roman exclaims. “I have to get the perfect idea. I can’t have a repeat of last time.” The last part was muttered, almost as if Roman were talking to himself.

Patton blinked. “Last time? Do you mean the song?”

“Yes, I mean the song,” Roman says, getting up from his chair and starting to pace in front of it. “No one liked it. Logan and Virgil were miserable the whole time, even you changed the lyrics! Thomas hated it, our viewers liked the changes more than they did my ideas!”

“Roman that’s not true!” Patton exclaims, feeling himself start to panic a little. Where was all of this coming from? “Come on, let’s go sit down with Virgil and Logan and we can talk through this like we always do.”

“No!” Roman all but yells, making Patton flinch and take a step back. “I can’t, not until I fix my mistakes.”

“Ro,” Patton tries again, making his voice gentle and understanding. “You know how important you are to Thomas and to us. Logan doesn’t understand our excitement sometimes, you know that. And the Fanders loved the song! Haven’t you heard all the great things they’ve been saying? They love you!”

“I don’t deserve to be loved!” Roman shouts. “Not until I can give them a video they’ll be proud of. How can they love me when all I give them are amateur works? How can Thomas be proud if I’m too excited? How can I make you guys proud if all I ever do is create things you hate?”

“Roman that’s not—”

“Just get out of here Patton,” Roman says. “I need to think.”

“You can’t just—”

“I can and will!” Roman exclaims, walking over to Patton, making him back out of the room. “I’ll make something everyone can be proud of. Until then, leave me alone.” And he slammed the door in Patton’s face.


	16. Starlight Date (Logince)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> College AU where Logan has been overworking himself so Roman decides that they should go on a middle of the night date to get him to relax

Logan closed his book and sat back at his desk with a sigh. He’d been studying for hours now, working on a presentation for his Communications class. Not to mention having to study the test in his psychology class and write essay for his environmental class. He hadn’t stopped working since he’d gotten back to his dorm earlier that afternoon. Glancing at the clock, he saw now that it was two in the morning.

Rubbing his eyes, Logan leaned over to turn the lamp off just as his window started banging. Logan jumped out of his seat, his muddled mind trying to make sense of the noise before he realized that it was probably someone knocking on the window.

Sighing, Logan raises the blinds and he found little energy within him to be surprised to see Roman pressing his face against the glass. He grinned and waved to Logan, motioning for him to open the window.

Once the window was open, Logan stepped back and crossed his arms. “What are you doing here?” Logan asks.

“Checking up on you, duh,” Roman says, leaning against the window frame. He reached out to grab Logan by the waist and pull him close.

“Could you not have just knocked on my door?” Logan asked, accepting the kiss Roman planted on his lips.

“What fun is that?” Roman asked. “Besides if I’d gone to the door, then how else could I convince you to go on a date with me?”

Logan frowned at his boyfriend, pulling away slightly. “It’s two in the morning.”

“The perfect time!” Roman exclaims, lifting a basket. “Look, I’ve got food and everything.”

Logan sighs. “As much as I appreciate the gesture, and I do, I am purely exhausted. I need to sleep.”

Roman rolls his eyes. “Yeah that’s why I’m here. You’ve been stressing yourself out over this stuff all week. Come relax with me.”

Logan chewed his lip, thinking. The idea of going on a date with Roman, whom he hadn’t been able to properly see all week, was tempting. However, he did need proper rest for tomorrow. Logically it would make sense for Roman to come inside the room and spend time with him until Logan inevitably fell asleep (it wouldn’t be the first time). Then again, Roman had probably already planned out the entire date and would no doubt pout about it until Logan made it up to him. 

“Come on,” Roman whines, tugging Logan closer. “I miss you.”

That, combined with the pout Roman gave him, us what ultimately made Logan sigh and say, “Let me get my shoes.”

 

Once Logan had gotten his shoes on and climbed out of the window, Roman grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards where he’d parked his car.

“Might I ask where we’re going?” Logan asked as they climbed into the car.

Roman looked up at him and smiled. “Nope,” he said, leaning over to peck Logan’s lips before starting the car.

The night was cool and quiet. No one was on the roads, and most of the roads Roman took them down didn’t have any streetlamps, leaving only the headlights for them to see by. Logan felt himself start to drift off after twenty minuets on the road.

Glancing over at his boyfriend, Roman smiled. He grabbed Logan’s hand, twining their fingers together. He’d made sure to have the radio on a low volume, knowing full well that Logan would probably fall asleep as soon as they got in the car. He ran his thumb over Logan’s knuckles gently, knowing that it would soothe the other boy to sleep.

It worked. Between the mostly darkness, the soft music from the radio, and Roman’s gentle yet soothing touches, Logan was out before he could lean his head against the window.

 

Roman parked the car and looked over at Logan. At one point, he’d woken up just long enough to lean the seat back a little to be more comfortable. At another, Roman had had to stop the car to take Logan’s glasses off him. Now he couldn’t help but smile at his boyfriend. He always looked so peaceful sleeping. None of the college stress weighed down on him, none of the schedules or deadlines or tests were bothering him. Roman wished that one day he’d be able to see that look while Logan was awake.

Sighing, Roman got out of the car and set up their spot before walking to the passenger side and opening the door. He leaned over and unbuckled Logan, though the other boy remained asleep. Smiling, Roman presses soft, gentle kisses to Logan’s cheeks, eyes, nose, all over his face. Slowly, Logan’s eyes opened.

Roman smiled at him. “Hello darling.” He pressed another soft kiss on the corner of Logan’s lips.

Logan made a small noise before he turned his head, pressing his lips against Roman’s. Roman rested his hand against Logan’s hip, leaning into the kiss. Logan wrapped his arms around Roman’s neck, deepening the kiss slightly and sighing in content. Eventually the kisses slowed and Roman pulled back, smiling down at his boyfriend.

“Awake now?” he asks.

“Barely,” Logan muttered, pulling back slightly to rub his eyes. He frowned when he realized he didn’t have his glasses and turned to grab them from where Roman had put them in the case that permanently resided in Roman’s car. “Where are we?”

“Come see,” Roman said, taking Logan’s hand and helping him out of the car.

 

Roman had set up an entire picnic. At three in the morning.

Logan had to admit that he was slightly impressed. Roman had brought them to a mostly empty field with a perfect view of the stars above them. He had all of Logan’s favorite foods set out and even a pillow and blanket.

Roman lead him to the spread out blanket, glancing at Logan for his reaction.

“As sweet as this is,” Logan says, “isn’t it a bit late for dinner? Or breakfast?”

Roman waves away Logan’s concerns. “I bet you didn’t’ even have dinner, Logan. Eating in the middle of the night is better than not eating at all.”

Well. Logan couldn’t argue with that. Besides as soon as he saw the food, his stomach grumbled, so he dug in.

They sat back, eating by the light of the lanterns Roman had brought and looking up at the stars. When most of the food was gone, they snuggled together on the blanket and Logan pointed at all the constellations, telling Roman about all the ones they could see. He talked about the stars that were actually planets and the pattern of the stars throughout the year.

Roman, for his part, asked questions and listened, letting his boyfriend go on and on about the stars. All the while he watched Logan’s eyes light up as he spoke about something he truly loved, and he felt himself falling in love just a little bit more.

At one point, Logan looked over and saw Roman watching him, and his sentence trailed off. “What?” he asked softly.

Roman was smirking, lying on his side as he looked at Logan. He reached out and brushed the back of his knuckles across Logan’s cheek. “You’re just so gorgeous. Especially when you talk about something you love.”

Logan felt his cheeks flush, but he smiled. “You and your romantic words.”

Roman chuckled and moved closer to Logan, wrapping an arm around his waist. “It’s true.”

Logan just smiled at him before looking back up at the sky. Roman snuggled against his side, pressing a kiss to Logan’s neck. They fell silent after that, both of them just looking up at the stars. Eventually they both started to drift off.

“Logan?”

“Hmm?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Roman smiled and leaned up just enough to get a sleepy kiss from Logan before he fell asleep.

Logan held Roman close to him. His boyfriend was dramatic, sometimes these spur-of-the-moment dates were inconvenient at best but…Logan had to admit that it was nice to get away from the stress of school. Tests and projects and studying could wait until tomorrow.

Right now, all he cared about were the stars above him and the boy in his arms.


	17. Candy and Wine (Analogical)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s Logan and Virgil’s first Valentine’s Day together and Roman has made sure that they have a romantic night (Neither can be romantic to save their lives). Only it doesn’t go exactly as planned. Note: Don’t let Roman plan your Valentine’s Day date.

The day was the same as any other. Logan was grading schoolwork at his desk, preparing for a presentation in his philosophy class, when Roman came barging into his room.

“What a wonderous day! Don’t you think so, Lo?”

Without even looking up from his laptop, Logan muttered, “If you say so Roman.”

Roan sighed and flopped down on his roommate’s bed. “Logan don’t you know what day it is?

“Is it your birthday and I forgot?”

“No it’s—wait, you do know when my birthday is right?” Roman asked, sitting up and looking over at his friend.

“Of course I do.”

Frowning, Roman laid back down to stare up at the ceiling. “It’s Valentine’s Day Lo! The most romantic day of the year!”

Logan paused for a moment to glance over at his roommate. “And what does this holiday have to do with me?”

Roman propped himself up on his elbow to meet Logan’s eyes. “Didn’t you and Virgil just start dating?”

“We’ve been together for a few months now Roman—”

“This is your first Valentine’s Day together!” Roman exclaimed. “You’ve got to do something special with him! It’s like…couple etiquette.”

Logan scowled, leaning back in his chair. It was true that this was the first Valentine’s Day where Logan and Virgil would be a couple, however Logan could not see how this was important to Roman. It was their relationship after all. “Valentine’s Day is a holiday created by cooperate people in order to sell overprice candy and flowers and provides an unrealistic expectation of couples to do something big and fancy.”

Roman sighed, used to Logan’s skepticism by now. “It’s not about the candy or the flowers or the fancy stuff,” he said with an overly exaggerated eyeroll. “It’s about the thought and the meaning! Also, it gives a nice excuse to dress up and go out for the night. Don’t you want to treat Virgil to a fun night?”

Logan felt doubt creeping up at him. He’d relied on Roman to explain many things about being in a relationship to him, as Logan had not been very experienced before meeting Virgil. He did not know about many of the things people expected out of a romantic partner, and Roman had been helpful in telling him all the right things to say or do.

So maybe Roman was right. What did Logan know, anyway? He was still so new to this relationship thing.

“I don’t know if Virgil would even want to do anything…” Logan mused.

“No one would pass up the opportunity to spend a romantic night with someone they lo—I mean care about,” Roman said.

Logan chewed his lip. “I wouldn’t have the first idea of what to do on such short notice.”

“I’ve got that covered, amigo!” Roman said, jumping to his feet. “You just call Virgil right now and ask him on a date. Tell him it’s formal.”

Logan quirked an eyebrow. “You’ve already planned all this haven’t you?”

“Don’t say I never did anything for you!”

“How long—?” Logan started, but his unfinished question went unanswered.

 

Virgil was pacing his room when someone knocked on his door. “Hey kiddo, can I come in?”

“Yeah, Pat, whatever.”

Patton walked in and frowned when he saw Virgil pacing. “What’s wrong?”

“Logan asked me on a Valentine’s date.”

Patton gasped. “That’s great! I know you were worrying about if you two were going to do anything.”

Virgil runs his hands through his hair. “Yeah, but now I don’t know what to get him! This is our first Valentine’s Day together, I don’t want to screw it up.”

Patton leaning against the wall as Virgil continued to pace his room. “Well…what does he like?”

“He’s a giant nerd Patton, you know this,” Virgil says.

Patton straightens after a moment and smiles. “Come with me. I’ve got an idea.”

 

“Where are we going?” Virgil asked as Logan pulled into a parking spot. “You haven’t told me yet.”

“That’s because it’s a surprise,” Logan said. Make it a surprise, Roman had told him. It’ll keep him on his toes.

Logan had to admit that Roman was somewhat right. Virgil was indeed curious, though not in the way Logan had thought he’d be. He kept messing with his jacket buttons and running a hand through his hair before hastily checking to make sure that it still looked okay. Logan felt bad, but he didn’t know what else to do.

Once they were out of the car, Logan took Virgil’s hand, pulling it away from his jacket. “You look amazing Virge,” Logan said, kissing his cheek.

Virgil’s shoulders seem to relax a little as he looks at Logan, squeezing his hand in thanks. “Nothing compares to you though. I have to make sure other people believe that someone like me is with someone like you.”

Logan rolled his eyes and pulled Virgil closer. “I don’t care about what others think. I just care that you’re here.”

Virgil bushed at that, which Logan had to admit was adorable. Virgil kissed him before pulling away with a smile. “Okay…so where is this place?”

“Follow me,” Logan says with a smile and pulled him down the street.

 

The restaurant was…fancy. really fancy. When Roman had said that it was a fancy place, Logan hadn’t really thought about what he might mean. Not to mention that it was small. The dining area was tiny and the tables nearly against each other. It was already too warm from all of the body heat.

When the two boys walked in, someone took their coats and hung them up, giving them a card with numbers on them so that they can get them back later. Virgil held on tightly to Logan’s hand as the hostess led them to a table, right in the middle of the dining area.

“Virgil are you okay?” Logan asked.

Virgil was most certainty not okay. There were too many people around and it was too hot…but Logan had been so excited about this. He couldn’t ruin it.

“I…I’m fine,” Virgil said with a gulp. He accepted the water the waiter put down in front of them and gulped half of it before the poor man had a chance to speak. Logan watched him with a concerned look before ordering wine for the two of them.

“Virge are you sure you’re okay?” Logan asked once the waiter was gone.

Virgil nodded. “Fine,” he says and gives a small smile.

Logan nodded, though he didn’t’ look convinced. “Well, um…what would you like?”

Virgil picked up the menu and forced himself to focus on it. He had to be honest, none of this looked or sounded appetizing. He glanced up at Logan over the menu. He was also reading through the choices, his brows furrowed. Maybe he felt the same way. But then why would he plan a date to a place neither one of them liked?

“I’m not sure,” Virgil admitted.

“Nor am I,” Logan mutters. “Perhaps we should start with a soup?”

Virgil nodded. Soup. Soup he could do. It didn’t take much effort to eat soup.

When the waiter came back, they ordered the food and Virgil sat back, glancing around them. Couples surrounded them, all of them talking and giggling with each other. He could practically hear every conversation. It was like they were all sharing the same breath and it was too hot…

“Virgil.”

Virgil blinked and looked up at Logan, who had a concerned look on his face. “You don’t seem well,” he says. “would you rather go home? It wouldn’t be a bother.”

Virgil shook his head. Logan had planned this date, and Virgil was going to see it through. He couldn’t ruin it like he ruined everything else.

Their appetizer came, and Virgil took small bites. It wasn’t half bad, he supposed, but it still made his stomach turn. Okay, he didn’t know if he could do this.

The two boys ate in silence for a moment. Virgil was painfully aware of it, and he tried to find some point of conversation, but he couldn’t think. He couldn’t…he couldn’t breathe.

He jumped up from his seat. He could feel himself shaking, and all he could think was that he needed to get out of there. “I-I-I’m sorry Logan,” He said, feeling tears prick his eyes as he practically ran out of the restaurant.

 

Logan found Virgil sitting outside the restaurant, his head in his hands. He was taking long, deep breaths, as if he’d just emerged from being under water for a long time.

“Virge?”

Virgil’s head snapped up. There were tears running down his face and he curled into an even tighter ball. “L-Logan,” he stutters. “I-I’m sorry I ruined…I ruined everything.”

Logan knelt in front of his boyfriend. “You didn’t ruin anything Virge, I promise. I should’ve made us leave the moment I noticed you were uncomfortable. I apologize for that.”

Virgil let out something between a sob and a chuckle. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Trust me.”

Logan pursed his lips. He held out his hand to Virgil. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

Virgil blinked. “But what about…”

“I’ve taken care of everything,” Logan promised.

Nodding, Virgil takes Logan’s hand. He helped Virgil to his feet before wrapping a loose arm around his waist. Virgil felt himself relax slightly, and more as they walked away from the restaurant.

 

They drove until they were far, far from town, on a deserted road with nothing around them but fields. Logan had put on Virgil’s favorite music—which was mostly Evanescence or My Chemical Romance, none of which Logan liked but Virgil appreciated that he knew it would calm him down—and Virgil sat with his eyes closed, listening to it.

Eventually Logan pulled over to the side of the road and turned the car off. Virgil opened his eyes and looked over at him. “What is it?” he asks.

Logan smiles slightly. “Do you remember when we first became friends?”

“You mean when you had to come get me from where my so-called friends had abandoned me and your car broke down?” Virgil said.

Logan chuckled. “Yes. And we sat on the side of the road for hours waiting for help because it was in the middle of nowhere. Patton had begged me to go since he was at work.”

Virgil smiled slightly as he remembered. “We sat in the back of your car for hours just talking because there was nothing else to do.”

Logan smiled and got out of the car. “Care to join me?”

Virgil grinned as he realized what Logan was proposing. He hopped out of the car and walked around to the back, where Logan opened the trunk and then sat inside of it. Virgil followed entwining their fingers together and lying his head on Logan’s shoulder.

The night around them was silent and still. Virgil closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Logan’s cologne and the fresh air outside combined helped him to relax even more.

“I am…sorry about tonight.” Logan muttered.

Virgil sat up to look at him. “No it’s my fault. You had this whole night for us and I just…ruined it.”

Logan squeezed his hand. “well…it wasn’t…all me.”

Virgil frowned. “What do you mean?”

Logan looked down and gulped. It was the most unsettled Virgil had ever seen him. “I’m not…good with this romantic stuff,” Logan muttered, staring down at their hands. He spoke so quietly Virgil had to lean forward to hear him. “I’m so terrified of messing this up, Virge. I don’t know what to do half the time. Roman has been the one to help me.”

“That makes sense,” Virgil says, not being able to help the chuckle as he shook his head. “So Roman was the one who planned all this?”

Logan gave him an apologetic look. “I hadn’t even known he was planning it until today.”

Virgil chewed his lip. “So…you weren’t the one who picked out that restaurant?”

“No,” Logan scoffed. “If I had planned it I would’ve picked a place who actually seasons their food.”

Virgil couldn’t help but snort at that before he quieted and looked down. “So…did you have any plans for tonight?”

“Well…” Logan’s voice trails off. “I’d planned to spend it with you, that’s for sure. I can’t say I—”

“Stop,” Virgil said, squeezing Logan’s hand and pulling him closer. “That’s all that I wanted. Just you and me. I don’t care if it’s some fancy restaurant or an arcade.”

Logan finally looked up at him and Virgil smiled. “You’re not…mad?”

“Lo, why would I be mad? You couldn’t have known that being in there would’ve freaked me out. I couldn’t have known. I’m flattered that you wanted to impress me so much.” Virgil smiled teasingly at that and laughed when Logan scoffed.

“Impress you? that’s preposterous.”

Virgil giggled and snuggled closer to him. Logan relaxed and smiled returning the favor. “Okay maybe I was trying to impress you a little…”

Virgil laughed and kissed Logan’s cheek. “You don’t have to be scared,” Virgil muttered softly. “I’m scared too sometimes, but…you’re not doing anything wrong. I wouldn’t want to date you if I didn’t like you. nerdiness and all.”

Logan squeezed Virgil’s hand. “Thank you.”

Virgil hummed and sat up a little. “Let’s agree to not let Roman plan our dates anymore okay?”

“Agreed,” Logan said with a chuckle. Then he sighs. “some Valentine’s Day…”

“Eh it’s just a money grabbing holiday,” Virgil says with a shrug.

“Exactly!” Logan exclaims. “Everything is too expensive and it puts unneeded pressure on everyone.”

Virgil smiled. “Yeah, it does. But it does give a good excuse for presents.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a wrapped box, handing it to Logan.

Frowning, Logan took it and unwrapped it. When he opened the box, he grinned. “Really?” he asks, glancing over at Virgil.

Virgil chuckled. “Well every Sherlock needs a signature magnifying glass.”

Logan lifted the item, examining it. “This…is the dorkiest thing I’ve ever received.”

“Well good, because you’re a dork.”

Logan rolled his eyes but set the magnifying glass to the side. He leaned over and kissed Virgil, long and slow. “Thank you,” Logan mutters. “Now I feel bad I didn’t give you anything…”

“Just the night together,” Virgil mutters. “that’s all I want.”

Logan smiles. “I have an idea,” he says. “why don’t we just go buy as much candy as we can, get some wine, and watch that show you love so much.”

“Supernatural?” Virgil asked, slightly surprised. “But you hate that show.”

Logan shrugs. “It is an…illogical concept, but you enjoy it so therefore I should indulge in it with you right?”

Virgil smiled and wrapped his arms around Logan. “You’re pretty great, you know that?”

“I do try.”

Virgil laughed and shoved Logan away, rolling his eyes. “You dork.”

 

When Roman got back to his apartment that evening, he heard the TV in Logan’s room on. Curious, he went to see why. The door was open, so he poked his head in, and he couldn’t help but smile at what he saw. Logan and Virgil were cuddled together, still in their dress shirts, though their jacket and ties had been abandoned on Logan’s desk chair. Candy wrappers littered the bed around them, dozens of heart shaped boxes along with them. a nearly empty bottle of wine along with two glasses sat on the bedside table. Logan’s glasses were askew on his face and Virgil had his arms wrapped around the other boy, their hands laced together over Logan’s stomach.

Roman grinned and shook his head. Supernatural played on the TV, which meant that the boys hadn’t even bothered to turn the TV off before passing out. Roman turned it off and pulled out his phone. There was no way he would let Patton miss out on this.


	18. My Monster (Prinxiety)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Can you do a fanfic of child Virgil drawing his monster which is Deceit and one of the Sanders sides(Roman preferably) talks to Virgil about his monster.

Roman yawns as he walks down the silent hallway. It’s the middle of the night, and Roman had just gotten done working on a monologue he had to perform in class the next day. He’d needed to make sure that he’d gotten all the facial expressions and tone right, so he’d been at it for hours before he was satisfied. Now, though, he is hungry.

As he’s heading towards the kitchen, though, he notices that there is a light coming from one of the bedrooms. Confused, Roman pokes his head inside his brother’s room to see what’s wrong.

He sees Virgil sitting at his desk, his lamp on, viciously drawing something with his crayons. Frowning, Roman walks in, closing the door just enough behind him so he didn’t risk waking his parents.

“Virge, what are you doing up?”

His little brother jumps and whirls around to stare at Roman, his eyes wide. “R-Ro-Roman,” Virgil stutters, his voice shaking.

Roman holds up his hands to show that he isn’t mad, and that Virgil isn’t in trouble. “It’s the middle of the night dude, what are you doing up?”

Virgil turns around, his head bowed, like he doesn’t want to look Roman in the eye. “My monster won’t leave me alone.”

Roman sighs and goes to kneel beside Virgil’s chair. A glance at his desk shows him that Virgil had been drawing a man in a bowler hat and a black and yellow cape. He had one eye that was yellow and silted, like a snake, and the same half of his face was covered in green scales. He smiled, his teeth sharp and pointed. He was surrounded in blackness, and there was nothing kind about his smile. Virgil is imaginative, for a six year old, that’s for sure.

“Well that’s rude of him,” Roman says. “What did he do this time?”

“He kept telling me that…that…Dada and Papa hate me. That no one loves me and that…that…” Virgil burst into tears then, gripping his pajama pants tightly in his fists.

Roman quickly picks Virgil up and sits down on his bed, putting his little brother in his lap. Virgil clings to him, still crying. Roman shushes and rocks him, humming under his breath until the tears stop. Once Virgil is breathing normally again, Roman pulls back and looks down at him.

“Mr. Snakeface tells you nothing but lies and deceit, Virge. Our parents love you to death and they’d never abandon you. Neither will I!” Roman made sure to keep his voice down. If Logan and Patton finds both of them out of bed, he’ll never hear the end of it.

Virgil looks up at him, sniffling. “You…you won’t?”

“Of course not! I’m your princely big brother! I will not let anything, or anyone, ever hurt you!” Roman declares, putting on his “prince” voice, which always gets Virgil to giggle.

This time is no exception. Virgil lets out a small laugh, wrapping his arms around Roman. “You promise?”

“Of course,” Roman says, hugging Virgil back. “It is a prince’s job to protect his people, but even more important, his family. That monster is no match against me!”

Virgil relaxes a little, smiling. He looks up at Roman, less fear and more curiosity in his eyes. “If you’re a prince, and I’m your brother, does that make me a prince too? And Dad and Papa are the kings?”

“You are correct young one,” Roman says. “You are a prince as much as I. We live in a marvelous kingdom that is run by fair yet kind and loving kings. Sometimes, though, enemies infiltrate our peaceful kingdom and it is our job to stop them!”

“But isn’t that what the knights are for?”

“My young brother, we must be both prince and knight! For, if we cannot protect our own, then we are truly powerless.” Roman sets Virgil on the ground and stands, keeping an arm around Virgil’s shoulders. “Come with me and I will pass unto you the weapon that has protected us all these years.”

Roman led Virgil to his room, walking over to the closet to bring out a plastic sword. He kneels in front of Virgil and holds it up. “Behold, the almighty…uh…El Protector! It has been my brave companion these many years and now, my brother, I pass it down to you.”

Virgil stares at the sword as if it is the most precious thing in the universe. “But if I take it, then what will you do?”

Roman grins. “Fear not, young prince, for over the years I have studied many forms of spells and magic. I have traveled far and wide to learn the ways of protection from many kingdoms. My time with El Protector has come to an end. Now, it is your turn to wield it.”

Virgil gingerly takes the sword, holding it carefully. For a moment he just stares at it before his grip tightens on it and a look of determination crosses his face. “I won’t let you down Roman!”

Roman grins and stands, ruffling Virgil’s hair. “I know you won’t. Now, with El Protector, you can do anything, defeat any monster. Even your own.”

Virgil stares up at him in awe, and Roman smiles. He takes Virgil back to his room and tucks him into bed, making sure that the sword was well within reach. Roman sits on the edge of the bed and watches as some of the fear and worry returns to Virgil’s face. He keeps looking around the room, as if he is waiting for something to strike.

“Remember,” Roman says, bringing Virgil’s attention back to him, “you’re a prince. Any monster who dares challenge you will wish that they hadn’t.” Roman leans forward and kisses Virgil’s forehead. “Now get some sleep. You have a long day of adventuring tomorrow.”

Virgil nods, seeming to have relaxed a little. As Roman turns off the light and goes to close the door behind him, Virgil’s voice stops him.

“Goodnight Prince Roman.”

Roman grins and sticks his head back in the room. “Goodnight Prince Virgil. Sweet dreams.”

Closing the door, Roman hums to himself as he goes to the kitchen to get his midnight snack.

 

Virgil lies in bed, gripping his blanket. His eyes jumping from one place to another. In the shadows of his nightlight, he could’ve sworn he saw something move.

“You know he’s faking, right?” a slow, deep voice whispers. “He’s not a prince. And neither are you. You’re nothing but a wasted piece of space. Far from a royalty.”

Virgil whimpers and grabs his sword, gripping it tightly. In the darkness, he can see two glowing eyes looking at him, one of them a glowing yellow. Slowly a grin spreads across his monster’s face, each of his sharp teeth showing. There is a hiss to his voice, like the snakes he saw on the science field trip the other day.

Virgil gulps. “G-Go away!”

“Not so brave now, are you?” His monster hisses, his grin going impossibly wide.

Virgil shut his eyes tightly. Somewhere in his mind, he knows Roman isn’t really a prince. He knows that they are just an ordinary family, not royalty, like in the fairytales.

But…his brother was brave. He’d seen Roman take on three spiders! And a racoon that had gotten into the house, and he’d never been scared of the dark like Virgil was. Now that Virgil has his sword he…he can do anything! Just like Roman!

Slowly, Virgil opens his eyes and looks at his monster. Lies and deceit, Roman had said about Virgil’s monster. Roman likes to tell stories, but he doesn’t lie.

“I’m not afraid of you anymore,” Virgil says with a smile of his own. He gets to his feet and stands on his bed, brandishing the sword. He won’t let this monster bother him anymore, so he jumps off the bed, slashing into the darkness.


	19. Pool Night (LAMP)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil, Roman, Logan, and Patton don’t know each other. They all just happen to be staying at the same hotel, none of them too happy with their situation. They all end up at the pool together and though tensions are high at first, it turns out that being able to open up to three complete strangers is just what they need, complete with a splash fight.

Virgil sighed as he looked up at the hotel. It was as big as his father had made it out to be, as if that made up for the fact that he was dragging Virgil along on this stupid business trip. Something about “father-son bonding” but Virgil knew that it would only lead to him sitting alone in the hotel room while his father was on some other floor conversing with other businesspeople talking about business things (admittedly, Virgil wasn’t sure what happened on business trips, or what it was his father did exactly).

“Virgil, come on, we’re running late,” his father said, putting a hand on the back of his neck and leading him into the hotel.

“Running late” in his dad’s world meant that he was late for being an hour early, so Virgil wasn’t in much of a rush. He managed to shake off his father’s hand and stop to take in his surroundings. Not even seeming to notice Virgil being gone, his father just walked straight to the front desk.

The lobby was big, with sections of couches bundled together, a few TVs around, all of them playing something different. There were big doors leading into what looked like a ballroom, and there were people spilling in and out, all of them dressed to their best.

In fact, everyone in the lobby was dressed up. Either in flashy suits like his father or pencil skirt dresses. Virgil was probably the most causally dressed person in the entire hotel. There were a few guests (mostly women) who looked to be dressed in gowns.

“Okay, room five sixty-four, floor five,” his father’s voice cut through Virgil’s thoughts. “Here’s your key.”

Virgil takes it and slides it into his hoodie pocket. “Looks like there’s more than one event going on,” he said, nodding to the group of women who, he realized, were all wearing the same kind of dress.

“Some wedding. Don’t interrupt it,” his father warned. “Just stay in the room. Go to the pool if you want. Look, I gotta go. Order room service for diner, I’ll be back late.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Do me a favor and take my suit case up there too, I won’t need it until later.”

“But I can’t carry mine and yours—”

“I’ll see you later Virgil.”

His father patted his shoulder before walking back towards the front doors, leaving Virgil to find the elevators.

 

“Ugh, Mom, would you stop! My hair looks fine, trust me. I wouldn’t have left my room if it didn’t.”

“Roman, I’m just trying to make sure you make a good first impression on Serina’s family! After all they’re going to be a part of ours soon.”

Roman rolled his eyes, but ducked away from his mother’s grasp. “Honestly, I think I spent more time on mine than you did on yours. It’s fine.”

The past six months had been hell. Ever since Roman’s brother and his then girlfriend Serina announced their engagement, it was like Roman’s life became wedding central. All he ever heard about was the wedding—the flowers, the cake, the dresses, the tuxes, the freaking stationary—so he was more than ready to be done with the whole thing.

He couldn’t say that he was surprised though. His family was full of control freaks and perfectionist. Everything had to be just the right way. That was why Roman was downright insulted with his mother still trying to fix his hair.

“Hey, I think I’m going to go help with the flowers!” Roman said. Anything to get him away from his anxious ridden mother. He was convinced she was more nervous than his brother.

He ducked out of the room before she could respond, double checking that he had his keycard before letting the door fall shut. Once he was in the silence of the hall, he let out a breath, enjoying it while it lasted. After a moment, he pushed himself off the wall to go to the elevators. Better to do when he said he was going to rather than risk the wrath of his mother.

As he got off the elevator, he bumped into a boy who had his head down. “Hey, watch where you’re going!” Roman snapped before he could stop himself.

The boy looked up, a sharp glare on his face. “Fuck off,” he growled before entering the elevator and hitting the ‘close’ button.

Roman rolled his eyes and went to find the florist.

 

“Logan, honey, will you be a dear and grab some bags?”

Logan did his best to drown out the screaming and giggling as he grabbed one of six mini suit cases, all of them a different shade of pink or purple. He couldn’t believe he’d allowed himself to be talked into coming on this trip. The last thing he wanted to do on his only two days off school was help babysit his little sister and her friends. Sure, it was for her birthday, but that had nothing to do with him. He’d already given her the present he’d gotten her and attended the mandatory family dinner. This little surprise trip for her and her friends was…unnecessary for him to attend.

“Look at how bit it is!” Angel exclaimed, jumping up and down excitedly. “Logy, Logy, look! It’s taller than our entire house!”

“Yes, hotels are usually much bigger, since they have to house a lot of people,” Logan said, grabbing a few more bags and loading them onto a trolley.

Angel grinned, and she and her friends started talking about how exciting this was. Logan shook his head as he unloaded the las bag. His mother wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

“You’re a good brother for doing this,” she says.

“More like I can’t resist her puppy dog eyes,” Logan mutters.

His mother laughs. “That too. Come on, Let’s herd these girls inside. They said there’s a wedding going on tonight, so we should get them to the lobby as fast as possible. Go ahead and take the bags up.” She hands him a key card.

“Alright,” Logan says, pushing the cart inside and towards the elevators. The lobby was indeed crowded with wedding guests, all dressed in their funerary. He spotted one boy—a groomsmen, Logan assumed, since he was wearing an identical suit to a few other men hanging around—was attempting to carry a huge case of red roses, though he seemed to mostly be trying to get through the crowd.

Logan returned his focus to the elevators again and managed to make it to them without any of the bags falling, which he counted as a victory.

By the time he got on the floor the room was on, he’d already decided that he wanted to go home. There were too many loud wedding guests, most of whom seemed to already be drunk. Not to mention the too small elevators he had to wait an eternity for. Then when he finally got to the room, he couldn’t keep the door open and get the trolley in at the same time.

“Do you need some help?” a voice from behind the pile of bags asked.

“Just push the trolley in while I hold the door,” Logan responded, forgoing any kind of caution he had about a stranger he couldn’t even see offering help. He just wanted the damned bags inside.

The stranger did as Logan asked, and once the trolley was inside, Logan turned to see who the stranger was.

A boy, maybe Logan’s age, was smiling at him. He had on a light blue t-shirt and jeans with messy brown hair. He also had glasses that were not unlike Logan’s own. Behind him stood a boy with purple dyed hair and a purple and black patched jacket. He had his hands in his pocket and his eyes on the floor.

“Thank you,” Logan said.

“No problem!” the blue shirt boy said. “Enjoy your stay! The rooms are really nice.”

Logan crossed his arms, a mere habit more than anything else. “Do you work here?”

“Huh? Oh, no, just been staying here a while.” The boy smiled and turned towards his friend. “Come on, let’s get you on the right floor.” He looked at Logan and waved. “Bye!”

The two boys walked away, both of them wheeling a suit case. Logan shook his head slightly and shut the door. At least there was one nice person in the hotel.

Sighing, Logan left the bags on the trolley and flopped down on one of the bed, enjoying the silence while he could.

 

Patton hummed to himself as he slung his towel around his shoulders. “I’m off to the pool Mom!”

“Alright sweetie, have fun!” his mom called from the bed.

Patton patted Charlie—his cute little Charles Spaniel puppy—on the head before grabbing his key card and leaving, stilling humming under his breath as he made his way to the elevators.

At this time of night, there was no one down at the pool. Usually, anyway. Still, though, Patton liked to go down there to just enjoy the night, even if there were one or two people there. he never minded other guests anyway.

When he got to the pool, though, he could tell that it wouldn’t be a usual evening. At least, not with the two arguing boys and another boy sitting as far away from the other two as possible, headphones over his ears.

For a moment, Patton hovered by the gate, wondering if he should just go back to his room. Then he saw the boy with the headphones curl into a tight ball and he found himself moving before he could even think about it.

Gently, Patton put his hand on the boy’s shoulder. The boy jumped and looked up at him. Almost immediately there was a spark of recognition in his eyes. Patton only smiled. “Is it okay if I sit next to you?” He asked, motioning to the spot next to him on the lounge chair.

Slowly, the boy nodded. Patton sat down, giving him a gentle smile. After a few moments, the boy removed one headphone.

“Aren’t you the boy who helped me find my room?” he asked, his voice small and soft.

Patton nodded. “I thought you were the same person.” Earlier, Patton had found this boy wondering around his hall, looking for his room. He’d been struggling with carrying two suit cases and had looked about ready to scream. It’d turned out he’d been on the wrong floor, so Patton had shown him the right place to look, along with helping him with the bags.

“Thanks for that,” the boy said, clearly trying to distract himself, “I don’t think I ever told you.”

“No worries kiddo,” Patton said. “So, uh, how long have those two been at it?”

The boy shook his head. “I don’t know but it’s…” he shook his head again. Patton could see that his eyes were wide, and he seemed to be trying to keep himself from shaking. Clearly, the fighting wasn’t something he liked being around.

“Why don’t you go back up to your room?” Patton asked.

“Being alone is worse,” he said, his words almost inaudible.

Patton blinked. It was nearly midnight. Was this boys parent(s) not back yet? Why would they leave him in such a big place alone?

Patton nodded and stood. “Wait here,” he said to the boy, then walked over to the arguing ones. “Hey, what’s the problem here?”

“It’s none of your concern,” one of them said. Patton frowned for a moment before he realized that this was another boy he’d helped earlier, the one who had the same kind of glasses as him.

“Well, you’re kind of disturbing the others here, so maybe we can either keep it down or, even better! Settle whatever it is you two are arguing about?” Patton said, hoping that the boys would at least consider the other people at the pool. Even if those “other people” was just himself and the headphone boy.

“Don’t look at me, he started it,” glasses boy says, crossing his arms.

“You’re the one who had to comment on my tie!” the other boy said. He was dressed—rather disheveldly—in a suit. Patton assumed he was one of the wedding guests. It seemed that the reception was still going on, if the noise from the ballroom was anything to go by.

“All I said was that it was crooked!” glasses boy said.

“Okay, okay,” Patton said, holding up his hands. “Maybe go to your separate corners. Or better yet, why don’t you just take the tie off, that way it can’t bother anyone?”

Suit boy sighed, but he did as Patton had suggested.

“Good, now why don’t we all just enjoy our pool time huh? I’m Patton! What are your names?”

Glasses boy looked over at him. “Didn’t you help me earlier?”

“Yeah!” Patton said with a smile.

He sighed and stuck out his hand. “Logan.”

Patton shook his hand then looked at suit boy.

“Roman,” He muttered, rubbing his head. Patton frowned.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“Why do you care?” Roman snapped.

Patton blinked, surprised by the tone. “Well you seem to be upset about something so I just…”

“Maybe it’s none of your business!”

“Hey! Don’t talk to him like that!” Headphones boy said, storming over.

Roman looked at him with a glare which only got worse once he saw the boy’s face. “You! You were in the lobby earlier. The one who couldn’t be bothered to watch where he was going.”

“Well you’re just as charming as you were then,” the boy said, matching Roman’s glare.

Patton shook his head and got between the boys. “Everyone calm down! Look, I don’t know what’s got you all so heated, but everyone just needs to go to separate parts of the pool to calm down.” He looked at both of them with a small glare of his own. “Go,” he said.

Surprisingly, they did. Roman huffed and marched over to one side of the pool, and the other boy to the opposite side. Patton sighed and looked at Logan, who had taken a step back with headphone boy had walked over.

“Perhaps this will not be as calm an evening as I’d hoped,” Logan muttered.

“Oh, well, it can be. I think everyone just needs some time to calm down,” Patton said.

Logan looked from Roman to the other boy. “Perhaps you are correct.” Then he walked over to headphone boy and sat across from him. It didn’t seem like they were talking, just sitting.

Taking his lead, Patton walked over to Roman. He stood there awkwardly for a moment, not really sure what to do. Roman’s back was to him and he seemed to be breathing heavily. “You know,” Patton said, “maybe dipping our feet in the water will help with cooling off? It’s such a pretty night, it’d be a shame to be angry the whole time.”

Roman glanced back at him, then sighed. “Maybe,” he muttered.

Patton smiled. “You should probably leave those shoes here, though, they look expensive.”

To his surprise, Roman let out a small laugh and took his shoes off, then his socks. He and Patton walked over to the shallow end of the pool and sat on the edge, Roman’s pants rolled up to his thighs. They didn’t talk, just sat next to each other, letting their legs float a little.

Roman closed his eyes and sighed, leaning back and tilting his head up.

For a while, the pool was completely silent. The only thing that could be heard was the fait music from the wedding reception and the slap of water against the side of the pool.

Eventually, there was a small splash across from them. Patton looked up and saw that Logan and headphone boy had joined them. still, though, no one said anything.

After a moment, Patton cleared his throat. “I never got your name,” he said to headphone boy.

“it’s uh…” he looked a little shy. “Virgil.”

“Virgil,” Patton tried out the name. “I like it. Very…dark ages.”

Virgil smirked at that and ducked his head, which only made Patton smile bigger.

“Is the pool always this empty?” Logan asked, filling the silence before it could grow again.

“This late, yeah,” Patton said. “Most people have turned in for the night.”

“You know this because…?”

Patton feels himself blush and he looks down. “I told you, I’ve been here a while.” Patton starts picking at his nails. “My uh…there was a fire, and my house burned down. So, we’ve been staying here. My mom knows the owner and they’re letting us stay until we can get a new house.”

“Wow, I’m sorry to hear that,” Roman said, speaking for the first time since they sat down.

Patton shrugs. “It’s not so bad. Our puppy, Charlie, made it out, and none of us were hurt too badly, so that’s what’s important. Besides, it’s interesting staying here. There’s always new people around,” Patton said with a smile at all of them.

“Still,” Virgil said, “it can’t be easy.”

Patton smiles and looks up at the sky, even though there was little to see with all the lights in the way. “I didn’t say it was easy, just interesting.” He stretched and looked around at the others. “So, what brings you three here?”

Logan groaned and rolled his eyes. “My little sister’s birthday present…her and her friends get to have a slumber party here. My mom dragged me with her so she didn’t have to deal with all of them on her own.”

“No wonder you want to hide down here,” Virgil said, shaking his head before looking back at Patton. “My aunt thought it’d be a good idea to come with my dad on his business trip.”

He didn’t give more detail than that, but considering he was at the pool and not with his father said enough.

“And Roman I assume you’re here for the wedding that happened?” Patton asked.

“Yeah,” Roman sighed. “Unfortunately.”

“Why unfortunately?” Logan asked.

Roman shook his head. ‘It was my brother getting married and just….ugh! the past six months have been all about this stupid wedding. It’s all I could hear about! No one cared when I made the lead in the musical or got a boyfriend or got my heart broken by said boyfriend.” His voice was shaking by the time he was done, and the other boys were staring at him, surprised by his outburst.

Patton scooted closer to him and put a hand on his back. “I’m sorry…your family shouldn’t ignore you just because of your brother getting married. Congratulations on the lead, though.”

Roman’s shoulders slumped, and he shot Patton a small yet grateful smile. “Thanks…sorry for the bit of tmi.”

“No worries,” Patton said with a smile. “It’s good to rant sometimes, you know? Gets frustration out.”

Roman nodded and took a deep breath. He looked across the pool at Virgil and Logan for the first time. “I’m sorry for snapping at you two. I guess I’ve just been on edge from all of this.”

“Eh it’s alright,” Virgil said, leaning back on his hands. “I think we were all holding in some pent-up frustration.”

“That’s an understatement,” Logan said. 

“Yeah I just kinda want to forget about it for a while,” Roman said.

Patton smiled, glad to feel the atmosphere shift from tense to relaxed. He got up and then jumped into the pool, effectively splashing them all with water.

“Hey!” Roman exclaimed when Patton resurfaced. “This suit costs more than this hotel!”

“That’s highly doubtful,” Logan said.

“You said you wanted to forget,” Patton grinned and splashed Roman again. “So, jump in! Nothing’s better than a midnight swim, trust me.”

Roman glared at him for a moment, then smirked and stood, stripping off his suit.

“Wait you’re not even going to go change?” Logan asked.

“Eh, swim trunks, boxers, it’s all the same,” Roman said with a shrug. Then he backed up and jumped in the pool next to Patton.

“That is ridiculous,” Logan said, shaking his head.

“Yeah, won’t they shrink or something?” Virgil asked.

Roman and Patton exchanged a look, and both of them knew exactly what they needed to do. Logan and Virgil had turned their attention to each other, clearly with the intention of ignoring the two in the pool, so they swam over and then jumped out and splashed them.

Both boys yelped and leaned back, but now they were both soaked. Thankfully, Virgil had left his headphones and whatever they had been attached to on the lounge chair.

“The water’s great isn’t it Patton?” Roman asked, a big grin on his face.

“Oh, it’s amazing,” Patton responded, giggling.

Logan and Virgil looked at each other, then Patton and Roman. “Oh, you’re on,” Virgil said, already getting up and taking off his jacket and pants. He left his shirt on as he jumped into the pool, very clearly intending to splash Roman.

“Rude!” Roman exclaimed and started splashing him.

Logan wasn’t far behind, and he joined Virgil in splashing Roman, which of course meant that Patton had to help Roman in their splash war.

By the time they’d called it truce, all of them were breathing hard from laughing so much. Both Logan and Patton could barely see, not having thought about taking their glasses off before jumping into the pool. Roman’s hair was disheveled and a mess, a contrast to the perfect hair he’d had before. Virgil’s under eye makeup was nearly gone. None of them noticed or cared.

“Alright, boys, pool’s closing,” a staff member said, poking her head in. “Go dry off.”

Begrudgingly, they did as they were told. Logan, Virgil, and Roman all drying off as best they could before they put their clothes back on. Roman, Patton noticed, only put his pats and under shirt back on. Everything else he carried.

The four of them walked back into the hotel, all of them feeling a bit better than they had when they’d walked out.

“Aren’t you going to go back to the reception?” Patton asked Roman.

“Dressed like this? No, I think my mom would literally have a heart attack. Plus, I think my Aunt Jackie is officially drunk and that’s something that only needs to be witnessed once.”

They all chuckled a little at that and walked towards the elevators. They talked about nothing—school, annoying teachers, Roman’s drunk relatives—as they waited and as they got in. At the first stop, though—Roman’s—he paused and turned to them.

“Thanks,” he said, “for taking my mind off things for a while. Good luck with your sisters, Logan, and Patton I hope you can find a house soon. Virgil, hang in there alright? Sorry again for snapping at all of you.”

“You’re one for dramatic speeches aren’t you?” Virgil asked.

Roman shrugged. “Guilty.”

Patton smiled. “Maybe talk to your parents Ro, huh? Once they get over their hangovers.”

Roman nodded. “I think I’ll try.” He smiled at them. “Goodnight.”

He stepped out of the elevator and the doors closed.

Virgil was next. He had fewer words to give, but he did smile at them, which Patton took. For a moment, he wished that he could do more for the boy. Spending the night alone in a hotel room couldn’t have been fun.

Patton and Logan were on the same floor, so Patton walked with Logan to his room. He could hear the giggling of little girls inside, and Logan sighed.

“Hey,” Patton nudged him. “You’ve got this. Show them that you’re the cool older brother.”

Logan scoffed. “Cool would not be the correct word to define me.”

“I don’t know, I think jumping into a pool in your Spider-Man boxers and having a splash fight with three strangers is pretty cool.”

Logan’s face flushed but he crossed his arms and shook his head. “That’s…childish.”

Patton chuckled and patted his back. “Good thing they’re children, Lo.”

Something in Logan’s eyes sparked, and he nodded. Patton wasn’t entirely sure what was going on in that head of his, but Patton was pretty sure Logan just had some kind of revelation.

Smiling, Patton started down the hall on his own. “Goodnight!” he called over his shoulder.

When he got back to his room, Charlie wagged her tail and bounded over to him. “Hey sweetie,” his mother greeted. “Have a good time?”

Patton smiled and scooped up Charlie, who licked his face. “Yeah, it was a pretty good night.”


	20. Jingle Bells (LAMP)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Patton being super excited and forcing Virgil into a reindeer headband thing. Virgil is secretly having a really good time. Roman singing at the top of his lungs while Logan tried to figure out how to put the lights on the tree.

“C’mon verge, it’ll look so cute on you!” Patton says, advancing on Virgil with a headband that had reindeer antlers wrapped with jungle bells on them.

Virgil kept swatting him away, ducking behind furniture and trying really hard not to laugh as Patton chased him. “No, Patton, I’ll look like an idiot!”

“No you won’t,” Patton insists, making a grab at Virgil behind the couch just for him to dive out of reach.

“Roman, Logan, a little help please?” Virgil asks as Patton scowls and moves around the couch.

“Kinda busy here,” Logan says, tugging on the ball of lights that were sitting in his lap and looking back and forth between the lights and tree, wondering how he was going to get them on the tree when they were so tangled.

“Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh!” Roman sings at the top of his lungs, singing along with the Christmas music they had playing on the speakers.

Virgil ducked under his arms, which were reaching out to put up the stocking holders on the mantle, and clung to his shoulder as Patton moved towards them.

“Roman, save me form the evil!” Virgil says, pointing at Patton.

Roman glances at Patton, then takes a defensive stance in front of Virgil. “You shall not harm him!” he exclaims.

A mischievous glint fills Patton’s eyes. “Oh yeah?” he asks, then lunges at Roman, just as arms wrap around Virgil.

“Ahhh, Roman, my prince, help!” Virgil cries dramatically as Logan traps his arms at his sides.

Roman pretends to buckle under Patton’s weight, raising a hand dramatically in the air. “alas, I was not able to save you. Remember me…as I was…” he slumps to the ground, Patton giggling excessively on top of him.

“Logan you traitor!” Virgil exclaims, struggling half-heartedly against Logan’s grip and trying really hard not to burst into laughter.

“Unfortunately I am unable to resist Patton’s pout,” Logan says.

Patton happily sets the headband on Virgil’s head, ruffling his hair a little as he does so. “There! Now don’t you look so cute?”

Virgil just scowled at him and shook his antlers so the bells jingled.

All of a sudden Roman jumped up and wrapped his arms around Patton’s shoulders. “You cannot get rid of a hero that easily!” he exclaims.

Patton’s eyes widened but he was laughing. “Logan, Virgil, help me!”

“Like you helped me?” Virgil asks. “I don’t think so.” And then he leapt forward bringing Logan with him, and tackling both of them to the ground. For a moment they were all a pile of limbs, their laughter making it hard to focus on untangling from each other.

Eventually, they all sat up, Virgil’s antlers askew on his head. They looked at each other for a moment and burst into another round of laughter.

After they’d calmed down, they helped each other up and went back to decorating, Virgil’s antlers jingling softly throughout the afternoon.


	21. The Star Present (Logicality)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Patton gifts Logan a new set of ties designed with stars.

“What about a puzzle?”

“He’s already got dozens of puzzles.”

“Okay…what about a history book?”

“Really? History is kind of depressing.”

Patton groaned, falling back on to Roman’s bed. They’d been here for hours, trying to think of the perfect Christmas gift for Logan. Virgil had been easy—a teddy bear with a jacket that matched the anxious side’s own that says something positive whenever it’s hugged—but figuring out what to conjure for Logan had proven to be difficult.

It had to be perfect. Patton wouldn’t settle for anything less. Logan deserved only the best present Patton could give him, which was why Patton was currently in Roman’s room. The creative side was always helpful with coming up with good gift ideas, but it seemed that both of them were stumped.

“Okay let’s think,” Roman says, pacing in front of his bed. “What does Logan like?”

Patton sighs, staring at the ceiling. “Books, poetry, big words, puzzles, his tie, astremey.”

“What?” Roman asks.

“Astromy,” Patton says, sitting up. “you know, stars.”

“Astronomy?”

“That’s what I said.”

Roman opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but decided not to. “Okay, well…something with the stars then.”

Patton nodded, chewing his lip suddenly a picture started forming in his mind. Patton didn’t know if it was the room effecting him or what, but he knew exactly what to get Logan.

“Roman, how much do you know about astreny?”

It took weeks. Weeks to get Logan’s present perfect. Roman and Patton spent all their free time going through all of Thomas’s knowledge on astronomy, which was hard enough for them to understand but was even harder when Logan always seemed to be in Thomas’s memories and knowledge for one reason or another.

It made sense, but it also made their mission all the more difficult.

On Christmas Eve, though, they both sat back and admired their work, exhausted from the lack of sleep.

“It’s perfect,” Patton says.

Roman pats his back. “We did good.”

“Logan’s going to love it!” Patton says. “I can’t wait to see his face tomorrow.”

Roman hands Patton the delicately decorated box. “Here, go put it under the tree.”

Patton happily takes the gift and sinks down into the living room, placing the box under the tree. Oh, he couldn’t wait for tomorrow!

The next morning, Patton grinned as he watched the others open their gifts. Virgil had rolled his eyes at the teddy bear, but he held it close to him for the rest of the morning. Roman loved the crown Patton had gotten him. It was designed to fit just right on his head so it wouldn’t fall off, and it played every Disney song there is whenever he wants. Finally, Patton watched as Logan unwrapped his gift.

For a moment, Logan just stared at the items in the box, his eyes wide. Then he pulled out one of the ties.

“This is…it’s moving!” Logan exclaims, examining the tie.

Patton was practically bouncing. “Yeah! It’s the real night sky! I think that one shows whatever the stars look like in your present location. The others show from all around the world! That way you always know where all the constellations are.”

Logan looked up at Patton, seeming, for once, at a loss for words. “You…you made this for me?”

“Well,” Patton looks at Roman, who looked smug. “I couldn’t have done it without Roman.”

“Yes it’s true,” Roman says, “but the idea was all Patton’s!”

Patton couldn’t help the grin on his face as Logan looked at each of the ties in detail. Patton had made sure that they were all a pleasant blue-black color so that all the stars could be seen. On each of the ties you could just see as the Earth turned, changing their position. Even during the middle of the day, you’d be able to keep track of all of them.

After a moment, Logan stood and took off his blue tie (all of them couldn’t believe it. It was the first time any of them had ever seen the logical side without a tie on) only to replace it with one of the star ties. Once it was on, Logan studied himself in it, then look back at Patton.

“I…appreciate this very deeply,” he says. “Thank you, Patton, Roman.”

Patton couldn’t help himself then. He jumped to his feet and wrapped Logan in a hug. “Oh I’m so glad you like it!”

Logan froze under his touch, but after a minute, he relaxed and gently patted Patton on the back. “It was very generous,” Logan says.

“Hey, don’t forget that I helped!” Roman exclaims.

“Oh of course—” Logan tried to pull himself out of Patton’s grip, but the moral side wasn’t letting go any time soon.

“I never get this I’m enjoying it while I can,” Patton says.

For a moment, Patton was afraid that Logan was going to yell at him, or force him away, but Logan just sighed and wrapped his arms around Patton. It took every ounce of willpower for Patton not to squeal in delight.

“Merry Christmas, Patton.”


	22. Christmas Sweaters (LAMP)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton makes everyone Christmas sweaters, but he adds a little twist to make them special

“Does anyone know where Patton is?” Virgil asks, walking into the kitchen where Roman and Logan were sitting at the table, eating lunch.

“No,” Roman says, not looking away from his phone. “Have you tried his room?”

“It’s locked,” Virgil says. That got the attention of the other two, who both looked up at him and frowned.

“Locked?” Logan asks, his head tilting to the side. “That’s very unlike Patton.”

“You don’t think he’s suppressing emotions again do you?” Roman asks.

Logan shakes his head. “I don’t know. He’s been very good at talking to us whenever he’s feeling troubled.”

Virgil started bouncing on the balls of his feet anxiously. The fact that Logan seemed troubled didn’t seem promising.

“Calm down J.D. he’s probably just in the middle of doing something and doesn’t want to be disturbed,” Roman says, seeing Virgil’s fidgeting.

“Yes, I’ll go see what he’s doing,” Logan says, setting his book aside and standing. He puts a comforting hand on Virgil’s shoulder. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Patton accidentally locked it and hasn’t realized it yet.”

Virgil nods. It sounded like Patton. He sat down with Roman, hoping that Patton was okay.

Logan sighed as he stopped in front of Patton’s door. Out of curiosity, he tried the handle and saw that Virgil was right. It was locked. Frowning, Logan knocks on Patton’s door.

“Patton?” Logan calls. “Roman and I made lunch.”

“I’m not hungry right now Lo, I’ll see you at dinner.”

“Are you aware that your door is locked?”

“I am the one who locked it, silly.”

Logan crosses his arms. “Why is it locked, though?”

“I don’t want to ruin the surprise!” Patton exclaims, sounding a bit closer to the door now. “Now don’t you worry your little head off and go back to lunch.”

Logan glares at the door. “Uh-huh. Patton, you know how Virgil takes to surprises.”

“He’ll love this one!” Patton says. “I promise.”

Sighing, Logan shakes his head. Clearly there was no getting Patton to open the door. He’d just stand there and shout through it rather than opening it. “Fine, do you as you please.”

“You guys are gonna love it!” Patton exclaims as Logan walks down the hall.

When Logan returns to the kitchen, he sits back down and takes up his book.

“Well?” Virgil asks.

“Apparently, he’s working on a surprise for all of us,” Logan says. “He says we’re going to love it.”

“Ah, see,” Roman says to Virgil. “Nothing to worry about. Apple slice?”

That night, Patton still hadn’t come out of his room. It was getting to the point that Virgil was starting to become anxious again. What if Patton was lying? What if he’d just said that he’d been working on a surprise when he was really not in a good place? What if—

“Merry Christmas!” Patton’s voice interrupted Virgil’s thoughts, making him jump. Along with Roman and Logan, Virgil looked up at the top of the staircase to see Patton holding…sweaters?

“Patton…what is this?” Logan asks.

“I think it’s about time we all get in the festive spirits,” Patton says, coming down the stairs. “We’ve got the decorations,” he motions to the living room, “we’ve got Thomas all ready for Christmas, but we’re missing…sweaters!” he holds up his arms, which had two sweaters in each hand.

“Patton, we already have sweaters,” Roman says. “The ones I so amazingly approved on?”

“Yes, what are you talking about?” Logan asks.

“I know, but those are for everyone else,” Patton says. “These are especially for us!”

“What do you mean?” Virgil asks.

“See for yourself,” Patton says, throwing him his purple and black sweater.

Sighing, Virgil holds it up. He begrudgingly had to admit that the design was nice. He liked the storm cloud and the swirls that represent the wind and—wait a second. Were the swirls…moving?

Blinking, Virgil brings the sweater closer. They were, in fact, moving, and…was that the actual sound of wind?

“Put it on, put it on!” Patton says excitedly, bouncing from one foot to the other.

Virgil does as he’s told, and as soon as the sweater is on him, he hears the soft sound of wind blowing through trees, thunder in the distance.

“It’s your own personal thunderstorm!” Patton exclaims. “You’ve always said that thunderstorms calm you.”

Virgil did not know how to respond to this other than a surprised look. That seemed to be enough for Patton, though, as he moved to the next two. “Here Logan!”

Logan takes the sweater curiously. First, he holds it up to see and was surprised to see that the shapes move and turn, creating new colors as they merge together. It wasn’t even the original colors that were usually on the sweater. Every color on the spectrum seemed to show up at one point. When he pulled it over his head, soft classical music drifted to his ears.

“Is this Bach?” Logan asks, blinking in surprise.

Patton nods. “I, uh, might have gone through your music collection.”

As much as Logan wanted to scold Patton for that…he couldn’t deny the honorable reason behind it.

“Well now I’m curious,” Roman says, holding his hand out for his own sweater. On his, the emblems all had people moving around inside the castles. They would wave out the windows, hang banners praising Roman. There were even people out in the sea, seeming to be fishing. When Roman put his on, a piano started playing. Straining his ears to figure out what is was, his heart filled with delight when he recognized it as the Steven Universe theme song.

“Steven Universe!” Roman exclaims. “Are there any other songs?”

Patton nods, grinning from ear to ear. “Everything from Disney to musical theatre! I know they’re you’re favorite.”

Roman’s face lights up. “You brilliant little ball of sunshine!” Roman exclaims. “Though…I have to ask, why piano versions?”

“Because then you can sing them all on your own,” Patton says. “and, and, and, it’ll make it easier for you to work.”

It clicked, then, the meaning behind these gifts. “Patton, you gave us all something in order to…help us concentrate?” Logan asks.

Patton flushes. “Yeah…Like I said, these are versions for us!”

“What does yours do?” Virgil asks.

“Oh,” Patton pulls his on. The noses of the dog and cat lit up, as well as the ornaments across his chest. “Mine has all of Thomas’s favorite songs from when he was a child.”

“That makes sense,” Logan mutters, refraining from rolling his eyes. “Well, Patton, this was a very generous gift.”

“Yeah, how come I didn’t think about it?” Roman wonders aloud.

“Because a gift with this much thought put into comes from the heart,” Virgil says, making them all look at him ins surprise. He shrinks back. “What? It does.”

“I also may have sneaked into your room, Roman, to get the ideas,” Patton says.

Roman sighs. “You know what? I can’t even be mad! This is wonderful, Patton, thank you!”

“Yeah,” Virgil says, “thanks.”

Patton beams. “Ohh come here!” he says, pulling Roman and Virgil into a hug. He looks up at Logan, who sighs but relents to the hug.

As Patton squeezes him, Virgil couldn’t help but smile. He couldn’t believe he’d been worried about this goofball.


	23. Christmas Wonderland (LAMP)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Patton and Roman go a little (way) too overboard with the decorations

“All these decorations are so boring,” Patton pouts as he pulls out yet another snowman statue.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Patton, we’ve had these decorations for years,” Logan says.

“Exactly!” Patton exclaims. “They’re boring. We need something a little fresher in our lives. Something new!”

“I like our decorations,” Virgil mutters.

“You would,” Roman says, rolling his eyes. “I agree with sunshine. These decorations are so…drab.”

Logan sighs, straightening from the box he’d been ruffling through. “Then what do you two suggest?”

Roman and Patton exchange excited looks. “Let’s go decoration shopping!” Patton says. “We can pick out all new decorations for the house.”

“Ugh, that sounds like work,” Virgil groans.

Logan adjusts his glasses, looking annoyed. “I really don’t see what’s so wrong with what we have…” Virgil pulled out a Santa statue, only to have his head slide cleanly off of his body and shatter onto the floor.

For a moment, all four boys stare at it. Then Virgil looks up. “We need new decorations.”

“Ugh fine,” Logan says, throwing up his hands.

Roman and Patton grin, both of them bouncing excitedly. They stop at a glare from Logan. “You can go get new decorations, but do not spend an outrageous amount of money. Just get some new things for the fireplace and tree. That’s it.”

“Yeah, sure of course, Lo,” Patton says. He and Logan were already running up the stairs to get ready.

“I mean it!”

“You can count on us!” Roman calls back.

Logan sighs as the two disappear. Virgil glances at his boyfriend. “Do you really trust them with this?”

“Not at all,” Logan says, shaking his head.

Patton and Roman walked into the Christmas section of the store and started looking around, wondering where they should start.

“Oh how about tree decorations?” Patton asks, pointing to the wall of different ornaments. There was everything from breakfast food to miniature snow globes. The two spent a good thirty minutes picking out different quirky ornaments to add to their growing collection.

Next, they looked at everything from garlands to lights to blowup decorations. At one point, they stopped at a display. “Oh, look, we can have a little village!” Patton exclaims.

Roman frowns at the tiny people skating in a tiny park. “I don’t know, these are pretty expensive.”

“Then we’ll only get one or two,” Patton says. “Lo did say to get something for the mantle.”

“You’re right!” Roman says, picking up a few figures. “Besides, only a few won’t hurt.”

Thus started their downhill slope.

Everything they saw, they convinced themselves that they needed. A full set of Santa and his reindeer to put on the roof? Well how else was Santa supposed to know where to land? A full set of outdoor colored lights? It’ll look great during the night! A Snoopy blow up complete with his dog house? Better get Charlie Brown and Lucy so he’s not lonely. Rainbow garland? How else were they going to represent?

Their cart soon grew so full they had to get a second one. Once that one was full, they decided it was enough…at least until they saw how the house looked.

After checking out and paying, they loaded up the car and got in. They glanced at each other for a moment. “Okay, we won’t show him the receipt until after we’ve decorated the entire house,” Patton says quickly. “Once he sees how amazing it looks, he’ll forgive us.”

“I like the way you think,” Roman says. “I’ll call Virgil and get him to get Logan out of the house. It has to be a surprise!”

 

After hours of decorating and two more trips to the store, the house was finally done. Roman and Patton stood back to examine their work. “We did good, Pat,” Roman says, his face lit up with all the lights.

Patton bounced up and down excitedly, despite how exhausted he was. Logan and Virgil were going to love it!

Just in time, they hear a car pull into the driveway. Patton grabs Roman’s hand. “Come on! I want to see their faces!”

He drags Roman outside to see that Logan and Virgil were already out of the car, staring up at the with shocked expressions. As Roman and Patton approached them, they slowly lowered their eyes on to them.

“Welcome home!” Patton exclaims.

“Yes, welcome to a beautiful Christmas wonderland!” Roman says, making a sweeping gesture towards the house.

“How…what…” Logan, for once, didn’t seem to know what to say. There were lights wrapped around every tree and bush in the yard, candy cane lights lined the walkway to the house, blowup characters were scattered around the yard, trees made completely out of lights beside them. there were about a dozen difference scenes being depicted at once.

Roman and Patton took Logan and Virgil by the shoulders, leading them to the door. There was a classic wreath on the door, the same one they’d had for years, but it had been decorated in red and green glitter. Patton opened the door and led the way inside.

The tree was covered in dozens and dozens of ornaments and different flavored candy canes, the mantel adorned with the rainbow garland and each of their stockings. The small village set was there, too, playing soft Christmas music as the LED lights flashed. More garland wrapped around the railing of the stairs, though at least nine of the stairs had a big sticker of Santa and his reindeer on them, complete with their names. The sound of a train whistle brought their attention to the ceiling where Roman and Patton and somehow been able to mount an entire different village, complete with a train station. The train went around the perimeter of the room, the smoke coming out of it giving off a peppermint smell. The couch was adorned with different quirky Christmas themed throw pillows of various sizes, the back covered with a Christmas blanket.

There were even Christmas paintings on the walls. Santa silhouetted by the moon, winter wonderlands, nutcrackers lined up on a shelf, children gathered around a gran Christmas tree. It was, truly, a Christmas wonderland.

There was only one problem.

“How much did you spend?” Logan asks.

Roman and Patton exchange guilty looks. “We tried, Lo, we really did,” Patton says. “There was just so much cool stuff!”

Logan took a deep breath to calm himself. He had to admit, the house did look magnificent, he just didn’t know how the bank account looked.

“We…can see if we can take some stuff back,” Roman says, a little disheartened. “We’ve still got all the boxes!” 

Logan sighs, “don’t bother,” he says.

“But…”

“Do you really think I’d let you two go out and get Christmas decorations without having a backup plan?” Logan asks, shaking his head. “We can keep everything, but you two are in charge of taking it all down after Christmas.”

Roman and Patton burst into wide grins and smother Logan in hugs and kisses. “Thank you Lo!” Patton says.

Logan couldn’t help his own smile as he straightened his clothing. “Yes well…you two were very excited about this.”

“Oh, come on, we’ve got to show you the kitchen too!” Roman says. “We got gingerbread house kits that we can all build together!”

The two run off to the kitchen, Virgil and Logan trailing behind them.

“Did you really put money aside for this?” Virgil mutters to him.

Logan sighs. “I had a feeling this would come. And we were overdue for some new decorations.” He links his fingers with Virgil’s. “I’d hoped they would be reasonable, but…” he shrugs.

Virgil bumps his shoulder. “You love them.”

“Unfortunately,” Logan says with a small smile. “Just as I love you. Now come on, building gingerbread houses sounds like it’s going to be interesting.”


	24. Scraps (Analogical)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan can’t help, but notice that Virgil only has one hoodie which is old and tattered. He takes it upon himself to sew a new one for Virgil to give to him as a gift

“Virgil, is that another hole in your jacket?” Logan asked, frowning at the bit of shirt poking through his boyfriend’s hoodie. 

Virgil looked down. “Huh, i guess it is.” 

Logan frowned, but he didn’t say anything else. He knew that, for whatever reason, Virgil was very attached to his jacket. No matter what Logan or anyone else said, he knew that Virgil wouldn’t get rid of it. 

At least, that’s what Logan thought. Which is why he was startled when he caught Virgil balling up the jacket and ready to throw it in the trash. 

“What are you doing?” Logan asked before Virgil could throw it away. 

Virgil looked up at him. “It ripped,” he said, looking more upset than Logan thought one would be about an already tattered and ripped jacket. 

Logan took the jacket to asses the damage, but he saw what made Virgil finally decide to throw it out. There was a large rip straight down the back of it. It would be completely useless now, more than it had been before. 

The doorbell rang then, jerking Logan out of his thoughts. “That must be Patton,” he said, lowering the heap of fabric and looking at Virgil, who looked less than pleased to go out without his jacket. Logan gently took his hand. “Wear my blue sweater. It’s not the same, but it’s something.” 

Virgil visibly relaxed as he nodded and kissed Logan before going upstairs to get it. When he came back down, he gave Logan another kiss. “See you later tonight.” 

“Bye.” Logan smiled softly as Virgil left. 

With his boyfriend gone for the rest of the day, Logan regarded the jacket for a moment. Though he could never really understand why Virgil loved the thing so much, he couldn’t deny the sadness in Virgil’s eyes as he’d been about to throw it away. 

Making up his mind, Logan grabbed his phone and found the number he needed to call. 

“Roman? where can I find those fabrics you get all the time?” 

 

It took the better part of the day for Logan to get the supplies and then a design thought out, and by then Virgil was home so he waited until the next day when Patton decided “out of the blue” that he and Virgil should go to the dog park, which freed Logan to finish his surprise. 

When Virgil came home that night, there was a box waiting for him on the table. Logan was sitting on the couch, reading. 

“What’s this?” Virgil asked, sitting down next to Logan. 

“Oh, just a present.” 

Virgil raised an eyebrow and grabbed the box. “A present?” 

“Yes. For you.” 

His boyfriend gave him a strange look before opening the box. For a moment, he just stared at it. 

“You…made this?” he asked, picking up the brand new jacket. Logan set his book aside and sat up. 

“Well, you seemed very upset to lose your old jacket, and I know how much you loved it. So I thought I would make you a new jacket from the old one,” Logan explained. 

The jacket was, for the most part, a deep purple. However there were patches both on the inside and the outside sewn into the new jacket that were made from Virgil’s old jacket. It was not a style Logan would have chosen for himself, which had made it slightly hard to determine what Virgil would like the best, however Roman had assured him that this was perfectly in Virgil’s style. 

Now, Logan bit his lip anxiously as he waited for some sort of reaction from his boyfriend, afraid for a moment that he had gotten the style wrong or that perhaps the color was not right (which was absurd, Logan knew. He’d chosen that shade of purple specifically because he knew it was Virgil’s favorite). 

He needn’t have worried. Virgil dropped the jacket back into the box and threw his arms around Logan. 

“Thank you so much,” Virgil muttered, holding onto Logan tightly. 

Logan wrapped his arms around Virgil’s waist to pull him closer. “You seemed so upset to lose your other one.” 

“Yeah,” Virgil pulled back and smiled at him. “But this one is better.” 

“Oh?” Logan furrowed his eyebrows. “Why is that?” 

Virgil laughed and put the jacket on, smiling at the way the sleeves fell just past his hands the way he liked it. “I loved the other one so much because it’s the first gift you ever gave me after we became a couple. Remember our second date? It was freezing out and I forgot my jacket in the car and you bought me a new one so I wouldn’t be cold.” 

Logan nodded. “I recall, though I am surprised it stuck with you for so long.” 

Virgil shrugged. “I was a little self conscious…I still couldn’t believe you really liked me. It was the first time it really sunk in that you cared about me.” 

“Of course I did, I always have,” Logan said, surprised. 

Virgil blushed and looked away. “It was hard to believe at the time,” he muttered. 

Logan gently put a finger under Virgil’s chin and raised his head so they were looking each other in the eye. “It’s very hard not to care about you. I”ll make a thousand jackets for you if it means you’ll be happy.” 

Virgil’s eyes went wide and he pulled away to look down at the jacket. “You made this?!” 

Logan let out a surprised laugh. “Yes, did you think I bought it?” 

“Well…yeah.” Virgil laughed. “How the hell did you make this in a day?” 

“Technically two.” 

Virgil shook his head. “You’re amazing.” 

“Thank you,” Logan said, pleased with himself, even more so as Virgil wrapped himself up in it, leaning against Logan’s side. 

“I love you,” Virgil said, nuzzling into Logan’s neck. 

“I love you too,” Logan responded, kissing the top of his head.


End file.
